


To Begin Anew in Another World From Zero

by ChummyChewChew



Series: Lendrz's story and Spin Offs [2]
Category: Homestuck, Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 | Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World (Anime)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Explicit Language, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-03-20 00:40:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18981652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChummyChewChew/pseuds/ChummyChewChew
Summary: Alternia is a planet just like any other. Extremely dangerous and hostile. One particular troll blinks and winds up another word. At first, it seemed like a paradise to Alternia, but he will soon learn that this new world can be just as dangerous.





	1. It's a Whole New World Out There

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a spin-off of my main fic. This story was moved from apart of the same work to its own work. This is going to be its own thing, so you don't really need to know much about Homestuck's story.

Lendrz yawned as he walked to his front door to greet his lusus. The night had been uneventful. No messages from anybody any nothing to due. All in all, a little dull actually. It had been an ordinary day so far, nothing out of the ordinary. He had come back from his little eventful trip, and he was still decompressing. He did order a purple palmhusk recently. This time, it had arrived with no shenanigans. Palmhusks were smaller versions of husktops.

Lendrz stopped in front of his door. A strange shimmering clouded his vision. He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear them.

Must have stayed up too late last day.

He opened the door, but a blinding light from the outdoors blinded him, forcing him to shut his eyes. It was far brighter than the moon could ever possibly be. It could only be the sun, but that didn’t make any sense. It was definitely during the night when he awoke.

“Fuck!” Lendrz shouted, raising his arms to shield his eyes from the light and stumbling backward, falling on his butt. He waited for the harsh sun to blind him and scorch his flesh. He waited and waited, but nothing came. He only felt a slight warmth and heard a clang and a small thump. Lendrz could hear soft murmuring all around him, too quiet for him to understand what they were saying. He cautiously lowered his arms and opened his eyes a crack. The light, while harsh and far too bright, wasn’t strong enough to burn him alive. He looked around, trying to get an idea of where he was.

A strange assortment of troll-shaped being surrounded him. Some people closely resembled trolls, but they lacked horns, their claws were short and dull, their lips weren’t black, white scylla instead of yellow, and their skin weren’t a healthy gray. Their skin ranged from white to darker tones. However, compared to some of the other beings, they were completely mundane. Some looked like a combination of a troll and a purrbeast or barkbeast. Their entire bodies were covered fur, their hands looked like a combination of regular hands and paws, and a pair of large purrbeast poked out of their hair. A tail even poked through their pants or skirts. Nepeta would probably have a field day if she saw one of these. The barkbeast variant looked very similar except they had long droopy ears and tails. There were even amphibian ones, having scaly skin, strange feet, large thick tails, troll-like claws, scaly spines on their back, and lizard heads. Even their hair colors ranged from so many different colors from the standard black.

It was like Lendrz stepped through a portal into some kind of medieval fantasy world. He might have been excited to explore a world like this, but the experience was somewhat dampened by the lack of money and supplies.

Lendrz sat on the brick stone in the center of the group and the center of their attention. His staff and a palmhusk were on the floor next to him. They continued murmuring amongst themselves. Now that Lendrz had his bearings, he could make out what some of them were saying.

“Did you see where that kid came from?”

“I’ve never seen a demihuman like him before.”

“Where do you think he came from?”

Panic and fear stabbed at Lendrz’s heart. Where ever he was, it sure wasn't Alternia. Lendrz picked himself up, grabbing his staff and palmhusk. Once he was up, he pushed himself through the crowd, ignoring the group’s protest and grunts. With his strength, forcing his way through wasn’t a problem, and the people he shoved were surprised by his strength, falling over themselves when they were pushed.

Soon enough, Lendrz pushed himself away from the group. Without the strange life forms blocking his view, he had a better look at his surroundings. He was in the middle of a small street with other strange natives walking to and fro their business. Tall and inviting buildings framed the streets. Unlike the buildings of Alternia’s stemclusters, these were pleasing and elegant, made of painted wood or brick. Lendrz quickly dashed down the streets, leaving the group behind. He ran down several twists and turns until he was sure he had lost anyone who would try to follow.

Lendrz leaned against one of the wooden building, catching his breath. Most of the people walking the streets ignored him, but a few of did look at him curiously, and none of them regarded him with the fear usually reserved for subjugators. This stemcluster was also much more crowded than the ones on Alternia. None of the people here didn’t have the wary look in their eyes everyone back home did. Lendrz began talking to himself, going over what happened.

“Am I another planet entirely? No, this can’t be real. This has got to be a dream. Yeah, a dream. I’m just going to wake up any second and be back home in my hive any second now.”

Lendrz stood up straight and closed his eyes with a confident smile on his face. “And, now!” he said with a smile still on his face.

Lo and behold, Lendrz was still standing on the brick streets. He had only succeeded in drawing a few curious glances from the people walking down the streets.

“Look at the strange man, mommy,” a passing wriggler, tugging at the skirt of what looked to be her ancestor.

“Don’t look at him. You don’t want to catch whatever he has,” her ancestor scolded as she gently urged her along.

Lendrz’s eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth to retort, but he faltered. An adult and kid on the same planet? That just didn’t make any sense. Then again, this was another planet. The child and ancestor continued on their way. Still, the idea of an ancestor raising their descendant disturbed him. Lendrz signed, letting them go without saying anything.

“Might as well see if my palm husk works,” he said, turning on his palmhusk. The palmhusk powered on like normal. He flipped through his friends, trying to decide who to contact, but an icon in the corner cut his plans short.

Of course, I have no service. Ain’t that just the icing on the fucking cake

Lendrz glumly tried to store his staff and palmhusk in his sylladex and strife specibus respectively, but both remind in hand. Both his items remained in hand. He tried to do anything with his sylladex, but nothing worked.

“Oh, come on. My sylladex won’t even work,” Lendrz bemoaned. “No money, no sylladex, no nothing. I’m so screwed. What am I going to do?” He placed his palmhusk into his pocket and had to settle with carrying his staff in his hands. “How barbaric,” he added with disdain.

Lendrz shoulders slumped down, and he continued down the road. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he wouldn't find out by doing anything. He ignored the strange assortment of people he passed by, not caring how many looks he got. They had called him a demihuman earlier. Demi meant part, but he had no idea what a human was. It seemed the people here thought he was one, albeit a strange one. At least he had a convenient name to call himself. With any luck, no one would think too hard about his true nature. Lendrz entered a larger street. Large unfamiliar beast ran down the street, pulling carts and carriages as they went. Some were large quadrupedal or bipedal or covered in scales or fur. Their riders also varied from scaly and fury as well. None of them had the white skin of lusus.

Wonder if the scaly and furry ones have any qualms with riding the ones that are covered in the same skin.

A sudden scream caught his attention. Lendrz turned to see a small boy collapsed in the middle of the street. He must have tripped and fallen. A massive four-legged lizard pulling a chariot barreled towards the child. The rider frantically tugged at the reins, trying to stop the lizard from crushing the kid, but it was moving too fast to stop and veering to the side would send the lizard into the crowd on either side of the street. The kid only had seconds before the lizard reached him. The crowd around him were frozen, watching in horror as the lizard drew closer and closer with every passing second.

Lendrz found himself frozen as well. His legs were locked in place. He couldn’t move an inch, even if he wanted to. He wanted to look away from the carnage that was to be, but he couldn’t turn away no matter how hard he tried.

Just as the lizard was moments away from crushing the boy, a person clad in metal armor dove to the child, grabbing and holding the boy close to his chest, and rolled out of the lizard’s path. The lizard stampede through the street where the kid was seconds ago.

The crowd cheered and clapped when the knight stood up and helped the boy as he did. Lendrz let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Lendrz turned away from the scene, ignoring the ecstatic crowd around him. The child’s well being was none of his concern, nor did it affect him in any way. He had more important things to do than sticking around here. Like finding out where he was and what to do now.

The highblood walked by a series of small stands, selling all kinds of goods. Some familiar and some not. Unfortunately, Lendrz found that he couldn’t read the strange symbols on the signs, but he could understand the language, luckily. He stopped by one particular one selling bright red fist-sized fruits that looked suspiciously like regular apples from back home. Lendrz glanced at the sign, trying to read whatever it said. However, the symbols on the wooden sign looked nothing like the language back on Alternia.

The man vending the stall was older, lightly tanned, tall and muscular, built like a warrior. He even might have been one, judging from two claw mark like scars on his face. One going from the middle of his forehead down the left of his broad nose to his bottom lip. The shorter one went from above his left eye to just below, but sparing the eye itself from any damage. His green hair was tucked into black bandana almost like a beanie. A matching three-pronged beard goatee his strong chin. A mistletoe necklace was wrapped around his neck. He wore a small vest that barely covered anything, sturdy slacks, and cloth bracers. He bit a thin green stalk of a plant between his teeth.

“These appas got your attention, kid? How about buying a few?” he asked with a gruff voice taking an apple from his stall and presenting it to Lendrz.

“Sorry, but I don't have any money on me,” Lendrz stated with a flat expression on his face.

Just like that, his attitude did a one-eighty. “Then what are you doing crowding my stall if you don’t have any money?” he practically shouted.

Lendrz looked from left to right. People were milling about, but none of them seemed interested in the appa vender.

“Yeah, I can clearly see that I’m interrupting your oh so busy stall,” Lendrz shot back sarcastically.

That only got the vender angrier. His muscular arm shot out and grabbed him by the collar.

“Who do you think you are, punk!” he shouted, almost lifting him off his feet. “I got a business to run! If you don’t have any money, then get lost!”

Lendrz gasped when he was lifted. His toes were barely on the floor. “Oh, fuck! You got it, sir! I won’t bother you again unless I want to buy an appa,” Lendrz stammered as fast as he could.

“Them scram!”

The vendor shoved Lendrz away. Lendrz wasted no time getting away from the vendor in a half crawl half stumble. Lendrz kept on running until he rounded the corner and was out the sight of the green-haired vender before slowing down to catch his breath and calm his beating heart.

That guy must be part shellbeast or something. He reminds me way too much of my lusus, he thought, holding a hand to his heart. Lendrz shook his head and focused on putting what he experienced with the vendor behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With his hands tucked into his pockets, Lendrz had let his mind wander and his legs carry him wherever they wished. His first issue was finding shelter for the night, food, and water. He doubted his purple blood would have much leeway on this planet and he wanted to avoid attention. It was probably for the best that no one knows he was an alien.

That being said, he couldn’t help but admire his surroundings. Compared to the grim and drab of his home, this place was bright and lively. He passed by bright green gardens and parks. Ornate marble fountains shot sprayed water in elegant displays of craftsmanship. There were canals of water running through some parts of the city. Surprisingly, the sun’s warmth began to feel comforting, even if Lendrz still thought it was too bright. For a moment, Lendrz was lost in his own thoughts.

Lendrz paused and looked at his surroundings. He had walked down some stairs into a dark alley without realizing it. The painted brick walls of the alley were faded and stained. At some spots, the paint was stripped away completely. The chatter of the world around was muted by dark cold walls.

“Well, look at what we have here,” a taunting voice called out to him.

A trio of thugs walked down the alleyway to him. The biggest one was had light brown skin, a large fat belly, strong features, puffy lips, but muscular arms. An extremely thin mustache and goatee covered his top lip and bottom of his chin. He wore ragged pale yellow clothes with an equally ragged green vest and wooden amulet on a leather cord. His head was covered in a white cloth and two pairs of braided brown hair curled upwards on each side.

The second one was tall, thin, pale, and looked like he just escaped from prison. He wore especially ragged grey short and pants. Metal shackles were around his arms wrist and ankles. A leather collar was wrapped around his neck with a severed chain still attached. His messy hair was baby blue with light pink streaks.

The last one was the size of a child. A light red cloak covered his entire body. He had large eyes and his brown hair was cut in a bowl cut.

Blue hair spoke out as they approached with the same voice that first beckoned to him.

“Drop whatever you have if you want to walk out of here if you know what’s good for you.”

After Lendrz finished eying up the thugs, the corners of his lips began twitching uncontrollably. Finally, he couldn’t help himself anymore. Lendrz doubled over, laughing so hard he was gasping and wheezing.

On Alternia, not even the bravest, or dumbest, of trolls would dare try to rob a highblood, especially a purple blood.

The thugs seemed taken back by his unexpected reaction, but it didn't take long for them to swing back into rage.

“What the fuck’s wrong with you!?” the fat one shouted. “Don’t you know you’re being mugged!?”

“I’m sorry, but I gotta know. Are you being serious?” Lendrz managed to gasp out between laughs.

“This is serious, asshole!” the short one shouted.

“Okay, fine. Let’s just get this over with,” Lendrz said, getting over his laughing fit and righting himself.

“You know, if you just dropped everything like we asked, we would have just let you go. But, now you pissed us off, and we’re going to have to work off some of this stress by beating you into the ground,” the fat one said, pounding his fist together.

The trio stepped closer and closer, raising their fist and forming a wall with their bodies. Lendrz raised his staff, ready to swing it at whoever stepped within range.

“Out of the way!”

A young girl who couldn’t be older than fourteen or fifteen dashed down the alley. She wore jeggings and a small tube top. A brown small fur-lined vest was worn over her top and matching gloves covered her hands. The left leg was cut off at the thigh and a red ribbon at the ankle. Her blonde short hair was kept from her eyes with a large black bow. A large curved dagger hung from the small of her back with a scabbard. A long red scarf wrapped around her neck, the ends reaching almost to the floor. The ends ended with a odd fire design. Lendrz almost did a double-take when he saw her eyes. She wasn’t an adult, but her eyes were already colored a deep unnatural red. He looked back at the thugs, but their eyes were all black even though they seemed older. He hadn’t been paying attention to the eye color of anybody else.

The girl run slowed to a walk before stopping entirely

“Hey, what’s going on here?” she asked.

“Me and my friends were just about to teach this smart mouth a lesson,” the skinny one answered, practically daring her to do something about it.

“And, I was right about to beat the crap out of these assholes,” Lendrz retorted.

“I don't care who’s beating who. I don’t have time for this! Move aside!”

Both Lendrz and the thugs moved aside to let the girl through. She continued her dash through the alley. As she passed Lendrz, she said, “live strong!”

When she reached the end of the alley, she elegantly leaped to and from the walls of the alley and disappeared over the roofs of the buildings. Lendrz couldn’t help but be impressed by her agility.

“Now where were we?” the short one asked, the group turning back to Lendrz.

“We just reached the point where I was going to beat all three of you into a bloody pulp,” Lendrz said clenching his hand into a fist.

“You just don’t know when to shut your mouth, do you,” the fat one said. Once again, the thugs began to approach.

“Don’t move,” a voice calmly said from the other end of the alley.

“What is it this time!?” the fat one shouted, annoyed by the constant interruptions.

Another girl was standing on the other side of the alley. This one was dressed in a white dress with purple trim and long white boots topped with purple lace, leaving some of her skin between the dress and boots bare. She wore a strange coat over her dress. It looked almost like a loose corset but went off in a large pair of coattails. The bell sleeves of her dress left her shoulders bare and had a strip of ridiculously oversized fabric, almost reaching the floor. They ended in purple and a golden eagle insignia was on the purple. A light green triangular jewel was set upon a separate white and purple collar. The girl herself was gentle-looking and beautiful and had snow-white skin. Her long beautiful and flowing went almost to her knees. Her hair was braided in a way that it almost looked like a hairband. A white rose was tied to her hair with a bow of purple lace. Judging by her violet eyes with blue irises and the quality of her clothes, she outranked even him.

“Stop whatever you’re doing and graciously return what you stole,” she demanded.

“What we stole?” the fat guy asked.

“You can keep whatever you have, but what you stole from me is most precious,” she continued, ignoring his question.

“What? You mean you’re not here to save this guy?”

The girl looked past the thugs and focused on Lendrz. “I’ve never seen anybody dressed like him. I don’t have any connections with him,” she flatly stated.

“Then you have no business with us! If anyone stole from you, it was probably a blonde-haired brat that ran past here. She was heading over there before she jumped onto the roofs,” the fat one said, pointing to where the blond-haired girl disappeared.

“Yeah, that way! She ran that way!” the smallest one shouted.

The girl raised a finger to her chin and the other one to her waist. “Hmm, they don’t seem to be lying. I have to catch her,” she said. She ran down the alley and up the stairs, past the group.

“Finally, now let’s get back to business.”

“However, I just can’t overlook what’s happening here on here,” the girl said, twisting one eighty degrees and raising a hand, palm facing outward and fingers spread apart.

Frost blue light began to swirl and gather in the palm of her hand. The light blue light began to grow stronger and condensed into three round chunks of ice. The ice grew until they reached the size of a large ball. The ice shot out from the light with great velocity one by one. A ball of ice struck the biggest thug in the gut, sending him flying a few feet with a shout of surprise before he landed to the ground with a heavy thud. The other two soon joined him on the ground when they were struck with ice as well. The chunks of ice stayed on the ground for a few more moments before they flashed with a blue light and disappeared without a trace.

Lendrz looked at the silver-haired girl, working hard to keep his awe from showing on his face.

I’ve never seen a cryokinetic before! It looks like the people of this world can be psionic as well.

Blue hair unsheathed a pair of long daggers hidden behind his back. “Mess with us, will you?” he growled as he rose. The fat one unsteadily stood up as well. The short one seemed to have been knocked unconscious.

‘“I don't care if you can use magic! I’ll kill you!” blue hair shouted. The threat was somewhat lackluster, as blue hair was rubbing his head and the fat one had to use the wall to support himself on his shaky feet and had his spare hand on his undoubtedly bruised stomach.

“You think you can win when it’s two against one!? Huh!?” he shouted, pointing at the girl.

Did that guy just say magic? That can’t be possible... Then again, this is another world entirely.

The girl confidently rolled her hip to the side and placed her hand on it, completely unfazed by his threat. “You’re right. Two against one does seem a little unfair.”

“Two against two should make it fair, then,” a cutesy male voice called from the girl, but her mouth didn’t move. The girl raised a hand, palm facing upwards. In a flash of light, a small purrbeast like animal appeared on her palm, standing on its hind paws like a troll. It stood on its hind legs like a troll. It was covered in grey silky fur with white on the tips of his limbs, tail, and mouth. A large patch of shaggy white fur covered its neck and chest. It also had patches of white fur above its eyes, resembling eyebrows. One of its ears was curled forward. The same ear had a simple golden earring.

The creature mimicked the girl’s confident pose and winked an aqua eye.

The thugs took a step back, suddenly afraid of the cute purrbeast. “No way! You’re a user of the spirit arts!?

“Correct. Now back off and I won’t come after you. Decide quick. I’m in a hurry.,” the girl confidently stated.

Blue hair pointed an accusing finger at the girl. “You bitch! Next time I see you, I won’t go so easy on you!” he shouted.

The purrbeast waved off his threat nonchalantly. “Do anything to her, and I’ll haunt you and your kin forever,” he threatened in his cutesy voice. He then sat down on the palm of the girl’s hand. “Not that you’ll have any kin if I do. Actually, you probably won’t have any kin even if I don’t haunt you,” he added snidely.

Blue hair looked like he was about to say something, but he lost his nerve. He turned tail and bolted back down the alley, the fat thug not far behind. For a moment, it looked like they were going to abandon the small thug, but blue hair seemed to suddenly remember him. He quickly turned and grabbed shorty and tucking him under his arm like some kind of baggage before disappearing down the alley with the fat thug.

Before Lendrz could say anything to the girl, she turned to him with a stern expression on her face. “Don’t move,” she said, looking down into his eyes intently from the top of the small set of stairs.

The girl continued to look unflinchingly into his black eyes. Lendrz tsked and stared back into her eyes defiantly.

“See? You look defensive because you have a guilty conscience.” She began walking down the stairs to stand beside Lendrz and said, “Looks like my judgment was right.”

The purrbeast was now actually flying beside the girl’s shoulder. “Are you sure about that? I think we would have recognized him if he was the one who stole from you. Plus, I don’t sense any kind of malice from him,” he said.

“You be quiet, pack,” the girls, shooting a look to the floating purrbeast.

She turned back to Lendrz and leaned forward.”You know who stole my insignia, don’t you?” she asked accusingly.

Lendrz crossed his arms, trying to once again hide his amazement at seeing the flying purrbeast. “I’ve never seen your stupid insignia before in my life. Those thugs back there were probably right about the blonde-haired girl. She was the one who probably stole it. They were also right about telling where she went.”

The girl continued to look into his eyes. The purrbeast floated beside her head with his arms crossed sitting on thin air with his legs crossed as well, looking into Lendrz’s eyes.

The girl nodded and stepped back. “Thank you for answering my questions. I helped you with those men and you helped me with information. We’re even, so there’s no need to thank me,” she said.

Hmm, it seems that she wants things to be “even” between us, so I don’t feel bad or something. She was far too nice. In Alternia, she wouldn’t last a day. I wonder if everyone in this world is as naive as her.

“Good, because I wasn’t going to thank you at all. I didn’t even need your help in the first place,” Lendrz retorted. He raised a fist and slammed it into one of the alley’s walls. His fist slammed into the stone brick, powdered red brick flow from the wall. The sound of stone crunching echoed through the Alley’s silence. Lendrz withdrew his fist from the newly made hole in the wall.

The girl was taken back by his blunt response, but Lendrz continued to before she could say anything. “In the time it took you to stop here and deal with those lowlifes, the blond girl made a lot of distance between you and her. In fact, you probably lost her completely by now. You know, if you know what’s good for you, you should stop worrying about others and start worrying about yourself. You never get far in your life if you waste it helping others.”

What he said must have hit a nerve, because the girl placed her hands on her sides and stared at him crossly. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t accept that. I can’t just someone who could be in danger get hurt, even if they don’t need help. If you didn’t need my help, someone still could have gotten hurt,” she said, stamping her foot.

Lendrz shrugged and said, “Whatever. That was just some advice. It’s your life. Just don’t say nobody warned you if you end up wasting it.”

The purrbeast flew to Lendrz and floated close to his face. “You know, you should really lighten’ up a little. Even I have to admit she can be a little too nice for her own good, but I’d rather have that then some stick in the mud like you,” he said sternly.

Lendrz raised an eyebrow. “What kind of animal even are you?”

The purrbeast giggled at his question. “What? Never heard of a spirit before? Well, I’m the greatest and cutest spirit in the world, Pack,” he said, puffing his furry chest and standing proudly on thin air.

He looked over at the girl. “You use magic earlier, right. As in, you’re a mage or something.

Both Pack and the girl nodded.

This might be kind of a stretch, but It’s worth a shot.

“Since you two are magic kind people, do you have any idea where to learn magic? I’m looking to find my start in the mystic arts.”

The girl crossed her arm and said, “I thought you said I should be more selfish and help myself instead of others,” she said smugly.

Lendrz opened his mouth to retort, but closed it and thought for a moment. ‘You know what? You got me there. Tell you what, I’ll help you find your insignia, and you help me learn magic in some way. A favor in exchange for a favor. Searching will be easier with another pair of eyes. Plus, I’m the only one here that got a good look at the girl,” he said.

“Thank you for the offer, but I think I can handle this by myself.”

“Hey, wait up,” Pack interrupted. “Another set of ideas might not be a terrible idea. Plus, he could serve as a meat shield if the worst comes to worst,” he cheerfully stated.

“Well, thanks for that one, Pack,” Lendrz said.

“Fine,” the girl conceded.

“Well we’re not going to find the girls just waiting around, are we? Let’s get moving.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pair searched the town for hours. They asked the citizens if they had seen anything, but none had. They must have looked in every nook and cranny of wherever they searched, but the found nothing.

After a while, they decided to take a break. They stopped to rest at a small terrace, overlooking the city. The girl stood by the stairs, leaning over the rails and pack on her shoulder. Lendrz leaned against the railing, admiring the view as well. He had assumed the city was large, but orange tiled roofs stretched on for as far as the eye could see. An occasional bunch of green broke the pattern.

“We’re never going to find the girl here. This place is just way too big, and she could be anywhere. This is impossible,” Lendrz bemoaned to the girl.

“Well, we are in the capital of Lugnica. Didn’t you know that? There are signs almost everywhere” she answered.

Lendrz looked away, purple creeping upon his cheeks. “Uh, actually, I can’t read, and I'm kinda lost. In fact, I have no idea how I even got here. I don’t even have any money.”

The girl turned to him and raised a hand to her mouth in shock. “You don’t know how to read, don’t have any idea how you got here, and have no money. You may be in a worse position than I’m in.”

Pack floated up beside Lendrz. “Where do you even come from anyway? I've never seen a demihuman like you before,” he inquired.

Lendrz thought for a moment before answering. He would have to be careful with how he answered, lest he reveal his true nature. “Not much to say, really,” he said slowly. “I lived by myself with only my… caretaker. I’ve never seen many others of my kind, aside from my neighbor. Even then, we weren't particularly close. As for why I’m here, well, one thing led to another, and I wound up here.”

Pack nodded and said, “I see. What about punching a hole in the wall earlier? Is that some kind of divine protection? You don’t look strong enough to do it with muscle alone.”

The girl stepped closer to Lendrz and took his grey hand in his own. She stared intently at his hand and carefully turned his hand around, feeling his palm, his fingers, and everything else. Her pale hand felt soft and fragile in stark contrast to his gray skin. Purple dusted Lendrz’s cheeks, and he looked away.

“Your skin is thick and tough, almost like leather, but you don’t have any calluses or scars. I can tell you never worked in the fields or other hard labor. You must come from a respectable family,” she said before letting go of his hand.

“I may not know what a divine protection is, but I can tell you my strength isn’t it. It’s purely physical, no magic involved,” Lendrz answered, brushing off what just happened. “What is a divine protection?”

Pack crossed his arms and said, “A divine protection is a gift from the gods bestowed upon mortals. Some races or species are more likely to have certain kinds of blessings or completely ensure, like earth dragons. Every single one has the divine protection from wind evasion. The chances of having a blessing are one in one hundred, but those are useless ones. A good one is one in one thousand, rare ones are one in ten thousand, really useful ones are one in one hundred thousand, unique ones are one in one million, and having more than one is one in ten million.”

Lendrz whistled. “Those are some odds. Well, now that you know a little more about me, how about telling me more about you two. I don’t even know your name,” he said, gesturing to the silver-haired girl, who had been listening quietly.

The girl seemed taken back by his question and hesitated before answering. “You already know Pack, my contracted spirit. We’re just here visiting… and my name is Satella… no surname or title,” she answered finally.

Pack’s eyes widened and jaw dropped. His tail shot straight up and a surprised sound escaped his throat.

“Satella, huh. Weird name,” was the only response Lendrz gave, choosing to ignore Pack.

Satella’s eyes widened from his casual response. Pack exhaled and floated beside her. He whispered something to her before disappearing into her silver hair.

“Well, we’re not going to find the girl that stole your insignia by just standing around here, are we? Let’s get a move on!” Lendrz said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They continued their search for the girl, but, again, they found nothing.

“Hey, Lendrz, do you think that kid looks lost,” Satella asked, pointing to a small green-haired child in a pink dress, looking left and right frantically.

Lendrz looked where she was pointing. “Yeah, looks like it. I can tell from the look on your face you’re just going to disregard my advice from earlier,” he said. Meanwhile, large tears welled up in the girl’s eyes and dripped down her face.

“I just can't leave a little girl crying in the street like that, can I? If you want, you can just keep going on your own,” she said stubbornly.

“Your kidding? I already spent most of the day with you. Might as well go the full mile,” he answered.

The pair approached the girl. When she saw Satella approach, her eyes lit up, but they fell the moment she saw it wasn’t her caretaker. Satella kneeled in front of the girl and said, “I’m sorry I’m not your mother. Are you lost? Do you know where your mom and dad are?”

Her questions only made the situation worse. Bigger tears grew in her eyes, she began outright balling. “I’m sorry. I just want to help,” she said, trying to reconcile the crying the girl, but her words had no effect.

Lendrz stood off to the side and watched as the girl only continued to cry and cry. If he wanted to resume their search, he would have to do something. But what? If anything, he would probably only make things worse. After thinking for a moment, an idea came to mind, and he readied his staff.

“Hey, kid, over here,” he called to the child. The little girls looked over to him, but he raised his staff before she could react. He channeled energy into it and a purple flame sprouted from it. He waved his staff around, leaving a lingering gentle glow wherever it went. The child clapped her hands together and hopped in glee. After spending a few more minutes tracing patterns into the air, the tears were gone from her eyes and a smile was on her face. Just in time, too. Lendrz felt the start of a migraine coming on. Leaving lingering flame in thin air was quite strenuous on his mind.

“Now, take her hand, so we can find your… mom and dad,” Lendrz said as the girl wiped the last of her tears from her eyes with her sleeves.

The little girl took Satella’s hand, and she extended a hand to Lendrz. “What do you want from me?” Lendrz asked.

“She wants you to take her hand, Lendrz,” Satella said, suppressing a giggle with her free hand.

“Fine. If it gets us finished faster,” Lendrz grumbled, taking the much smaller hand into his own. The two continued walking down the busy street with the girl between them.

“I thought you didn’t know magic,” Satella said as they walked. The girl ignored their conversation, content with skipping along with them.

“That wasn’t magic. It’s kind of like a physical trait that the demihumans like me can have, no magic involved,” Lendrz answered, already having an answer ready for when she asked.

“Mommy!” the girl shouted and pulled herself away from their hands. She ran to a brown-haired woman who dropped to her knees and hugged the girl tightly.

Lendrz turned away. “We already wasted enough time with this. Let’s get moving,” he said, already walking away.

Satella smiled to herself before following Lendrz.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pair were taking another break from their search. They were seated next to each other on the small sidewalls of a stone bridge built over a large rectangular body of water. Fountains sprouting out from the water, spraying water upwards. Benches, tables, and vendors were littered around the edges of the body of water.

I still can’t get over how different this place is. Something like this would never have been built for the public.

“How long have we been searching? A few hours must have passed at least,” Lendrz complained.

Satella stayed silent for a moment. “Why are you helping me? Don’t tell me it’s to learn magic. In the time it’s taking us to search, you could have probably found a teacher willing to teach you if you have any potential.”

Lendrz pursed his lips. Why was he helping her? It’s true; the thought of leaving on his own had come across his mind a few times. She wasn’t one of his friends and he owed her nothing. Maybe because she was the first person to show him unconditional kindness. Maybe it was because she was so naive that he wanted to help her out...

Lendrz scoffed and looked away. “At this point, it’s not even about learning magic or even helping you! I just won't give that little punk that stole your insignia a piece of my mind for wasting so much of my time!... Plus, I guess I could be stuck with worse company,” he added.

Satella smiled at his response, but it fell as soon as it came. “I don’t think I can go like this,” she said. “I have to tell you...I’m half elf,” she finished ashamed, pulling back her silver hair to reveal a pair of pointed ears.

Lendrz sated at her curiously. _Apparently, being a half-elf was something to be ashamed of. As a subjugglator, this is the part where I scorn her or something...Eh, fuck it. She’s nice enough, and she doesn't aggravate me the second she speaks._

__

__

“So? Half-elf, full elf, or no elf, you seem like nice enough person. A little to nice if you ask me, but I digress. You’re going to have to try harder than that to get rid of me. I’m sorry, but it looks like we’re going to be stuck with each other for a while,” Lendrz finished with a cheeky smile.

Satella looked taken back by his response. She hopped off the wall and turned her back to him and squatted down, placing her hands on top of her head.

Pack flew from Satella’s silver hair. The fluffy spirit twirled through the air before dashing to Lendrz’s face with a squishy paw reared back. He shouted as he punched Lendrz’ cheek with all the might his little body could muster, which translated to a gentle pat.

Lendrz stared blankly at the spirit. “...What the fuck are you doing?” he asked.

Pack curled up in a ball, trembling uncontrollably with fur standing one end. “I’m sorry. I just can't stand this unbearable tingle I feel. I’m happy, not mad,” he gasped out.

“You’re such a dunderhead,” Satella said, only turning her head.

“Did you seriously call me a dunderhead? Is that the best insult you have?

“B-be quiet! We have searching to do!” she said, finally standing up.

Wait, before we go, we got to think of a plan. We’ve been going around in circles for hours. Where was your insignia stolen?” Lendrz asked.

“I still remember where it was stolen. Just follow me,” Satella answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It was just around here,” Satella said as they turned into a familiar street. Once again, Lendrz found himself in a street full of trading stalls. The same street with the green-haired man from earlier.

“Let’s began asking questions,” she continued, making a beeline to a certain green-haired man.

Lendrz kept a fair distance away and let Satella do the talking. “Excuse me, but have you seen a blond-haired girl by any chance? She wearing a long red scarf as well.”

The vendor looked down at Satella before he spotted Lendrz standing behind her. “You're with that broke kid there, right? Just when I thought I had a customer,” he answered, crossing his arms and shaking his head. “If you two are done wasting my time, beat it. You're scaring away my customers. Get lost, you broke losers!” he finished, waving them away.

“Papa!”

All three of them turned to see the green-haired girl they helped earlier and her mother. The mother bowed and said, “Thank you for helping me find my daughter. You left so fast, I didn’t get a chance to thank you. I see you have met my husband, too.”

“This is your husband,” Satella asked, gesturing to the vendor. The vender’s eyes widened and his jaw went slack. The stalk from between his lips fell to the floor. His daughter ran to him and wrapped her hands around him, but she only reached halfway.

“You know these kids?” he asked his wife.

“Yes, we got separated and these nice people helped us find each other,” she answered.

He gently rubbed his daughter's hair. ‘“Now then, what’s going on here?” the wife asked her husband.

He avoided his wife’s gaze. “Uh, nothing. I was just helping these two on their way.

She smiled. “Good. Come on, we still have some errands to finish,” she said, beckoning to her daughter. The daughter gave her father one last squeeze before going to her mother. They waved to the rest of the group before leaving.

The vendor looked back at Lendrz and Satella with a softer look. “Okay, since you helped my wife and daughter, I guess you two broke kids aren’t so bad. The name’s Kadomon Risch. What do you two want again?”

Satella bowed and said, “Thank you so much. We’re looking for a blond-haired thief wearing a long red scarf. She stole something important to me.”

Kadomon rubbed his chin in thought. “Hmm, I’ve never seen anybody like that personally, but I have heard rumors of a pickpocket matching that description around here. If I were you, I’d check the poor district. That’s the most likely place where you’ll a thief. Here, let me write down some directions.” He fished some paper and a pencil from his stand and quickly jotted down some instructions before handing the paper to Satella.

Satella took the paper. “Thank you. Come on, Lendrz,” she said, already briskly walking away. Lendrz followed closely behind.

“Be careful, you two! That district can be dangerous!” Kadomon called.

As they walked, Satella’s lips were turned into a smug smile. “What are you so happy about? We still have an entire district to search for your insignia,” Lendrz said.

“Because we helped that little girl, Kadomon helped us now. Being nice does have its advantages,” she answered.

“We just got lucky this time. Seriously, what are the chances of that? Besides, we still have to find the thief, so we’re not done yet.” The pair continued the rest of the way in silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

True to its name, the poor district was a wreck. They were no roads or streets, just dust. The buildings were made of old rotting wood. There were a few scattered remains of brick buildings, but the passing of time had reduced them to unrecognizable crumbling wrecks The people were dressed in rags. These people reminded him of the trolls from the slums of Alternia. They stayed out of sight and watched them from around corners and windows. It was almost night and the district was bathed in a faint orange light.

The duo was joined by Pack, who was seated on Satella’s shoulder. “Hey,” he said, catching the pair’s attention. “I’m out of time”

“What do you mean out of time?” Lendrz asked.

“Well, I may be all cute and fluffy, but I am a spirit, and it takes a lot of mana to manifest in the physical world. I have to rest in the crystal during the night if I want to be ready for the morning. Usually, I can go from nine to five without straining myself,” he said, struggling to keep his head up.

“Don’t worry, Pack. You did great,” Satella said, taking the jewel from neck and placing it in her palm. Pack flew from her shoulder to the jewel and sat on her palms.

“Be careful,” Pack warned before being enveloped in bright green light. The light then shattered into dozens of small green particles with a chime. The particles flew in every direction before flying to the jewel and disappearing into it. Satella fastened the jewel back on her neck.

“Well, that was some light show. Well, what do we do now? We’re down a member and we haven’t gotten any closer to finding the thief,” Lendrz said.

“Don’t worry. Pack may be resting, but I can call upon other minor spirits.”

“What’s a minor spirit?” asked Lendrz.

“Minor spirits are spirits that haven’t become full-fledged spirits like pack yet. They don’t have a personality like Pack and they can’t take physical form by themselves. Just give me a little time,” Satella answered.

Satella stepped back and closed her eyes. She kept her eyes closed and her eyes by her side, She began whispering too softly for Lendrz to hear. A bright blue light began emanating from her. Small blue particles began flickering into existence around her. They pulsed gently as they drifted around Satella. Lendrz stared in awe at the beautiful lights. She continued her soft chanting for a few minutes before they faded and disappear entirely.

Satella turned to Lendrz and said, ‘I know where the thief is.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night had fallen a while ago, casting the rundown district in shadows. Satella had some difficulty walking on the uneven road at night, but Lendrz’s eyes were more suited for the night anyway, so he had no trouble.

They had arrived at a large old brick building. The dirty white paint was chipping away and some parts had the brick laying bare. All the windows were barred with iron bars, almost like a prison. It looked like it might have been a shop of some kind once, but now it was a thief's den.

“It doesn’t look like anybody’s there. Maybe they’re sleeping or something. Do you want to wait until morning to try again or what?” asked Lendrz.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of the dark,” Satella lightly teased.

Lendrz rolled his eyes and said, “As if. I can see just fine in the dark.”

“Then you wouldn’t mind going in first, would you?”

Lendrz shrugged. “Sure. I’ll give a shout if there’s any trouble.”

Lendrz approached the decrepit building’s aged door. The double doors had no lock; only a pair of knockers. The doors opened with a ghastly creak. As expected, the interior was pitch black, but he could still see just fine. A large hole in the roof let some silver moonlight into the building. There was a counter across from him and tables and chairs scattered about. The building had a random assortment of goods of various quality. Shelves were lined with bottles of all shapes and colors. Crates were stacked all over, undoubtedly filled with more stolen goods. Swords, shields and other weapons were hung on the wall. There was even an entire sure of plate armor standing in the corner.

He began walking around the building, checking for any signs of anyone. There was a strange scent in the air along with an eerie stillness. As Lendrz walked past the counter, he heard a light splash when he stepped down. He looked down to see a thick viscous red fluid pooled around his feet. Lendrz looked down the counter and almost dropped his staff at the sight.

There, sitting against the wall was a large bulky man. He was slumped forward and a large club lay at his feet. His dark skin was unnaturally pale and ashy. His eyes were wide open, but they were vacant and sightless. His innards were strewn on his lap in a gorry pile from a large gaping slash on his stomach. The cut was a violent one, making it look like an explosion of blood covered his entire bulky chest up to his face. His mouth was ajar, thick coagulated blood dripped from it to the floor.

Lendrz growled and reinforced his grip on his staff. The man wasn't just killed. He was slaughtered, like an animal, and the person who did it could still be here.

“Oh my, did you find him? Now I have no choice but to dispose of you~,” a cold feminine voice sang from behind Lendrz.

Before Lendrz could react, a powerful shove made him stumble forward, followed by a stabbing pain in his back. He quickly spun around, but his assailant had disappeared before he could even see her.

“I’m impressed. I ran you through with my knife and you’re still standing. And the purple blood~ I’ve never seen anything like it. I bet your guts are the same beautiful shade of purple,” the same voice called.

Lendrz looked around the room, trying to pinpoint the source, but the voice seemed to be coming from all around him. He glanced down and saw that purple blood staining his stomach. She wasn’t lying. She had stabbed him from his back to his stomach. He gritted his teeth and fought back the pain with his growing rage. He raised his staff and began to channel energy, but a familiar voice interrupted his concentration.

“Lendrz, are you okay? I heard some voices. I’m coming in,” the familiar voice of Satella called to him from just behind the door.

Lendrz’s eyes widened as he turned to the doors. He had to warn her about the danger. “Wa-”

Before the first word could even leave his mouth, a dark figure dashed in front of him. Lendrz barley saw the glint of her knife before he felt a horrible pain in his neck. His words were replaced by a wet gurgling as his assailant slit his throat

Lendrz dropped his staff and collapsed to his knees. He pressed both his hands to his neck as he tried to staunch the flow of purple. The pain in his neck dwarfed the stab wound, but the pain lessens with every drop that spilled to the floor. Finally, Lendrz collapsed, too weak to even stay on his knees and his arms fell weakly to his side. His ears were ringing and his vision began to blur.

Am I going to die...?

Through the ringing, Lendrz heard the door open. “Lendrz? Where are you?” he heard Satella call. Lendrz tried to form words, but only blood escaped his lips. He heard the sound of flesh being cut followed by a thud when she fell. Satell was cut down before she could even make a sound. The sound of footsteps neared Lendrz. Once the assailant was close, Lendrz was nudged onto his back. Lendrz tried to identify the assailant, but his vision was too clouded by darkness to see properly, only able to see the faint figure of her.

I'm going to die...

“Wow, you’re still alive~ Pretty soon, you’re going to wish you were dead.” lendrz could only gurgle in response.

The figure knelt close to Lendrz. She raised a knife stained in both purple and red before plunging it into Lendrz’s stomach. Lendrz felt a resurgence of pain but was too weak to do anything but lay there and take it. She pulled her knife from one end of his stomach to the other. Once the cut was long enough, she pulled the gash wide open. She reached down and grabbed onto Lendrz’s intestines and began pulling them out. Lendrz’s eyes flickered and he began weakly spasming. The pain was unbearable, but Lendrz couldn't do anything to defend himself. At this point, death would be a blessing.

“Your insides are so cold~,”’ the figure said, with almost childlike glee. She continued to reach inside of Lendrz, pulling out anything she could get her hands on.

Lendrz vision continued to darken and darken until it completely overtook his sight. He twitched one last time and was free from the pain.

I’m dead…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lendrz’s vision was too blurry to see anything, and his were ears still ringing. He looked around, trying to find out where he was, but a bright light clouded his vision. A voice called to Lendrz, but he ignored it. Finally, his vision cleared enough that he could see. He was standing in the market under the bright sun.

“Hey, didn't you hear me? Do you want to buy an appa or not?” a familiar green-haired man asked him.


	2. A Second Life, a Second Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might be a while for the next chapter. This is a spin-off after all. If you like this work, you could also check out my other works.

Lendrz stood in silence in front of the familiar appa stand. The sound of his heart that was once slow was now hammering within his chest. He blinked a few times, the reality of the situation finally sinking in. In a shocked state, Lendrz walked past Kadoma, ignoring his earlier questions. Lendrz walked down the main street, dull to the world around him. The world around continued as normal, the normalcy of the world seemingly mocking the brutality Lendrz had gone through.

Lendrz pressed his hand against his stomach, where moments ago he had just been gutted. The physical pain was gone, but the memory was still fresh and overwhelming. The feeling of having your gut sliced open and your innards slowly pulled out one by one wasn’t something you shrugged off. He could taste the bitter bile that was rising in the back of his throat. Lendrz forced the bile back down his throat and continued down the path. He took a deep breath to calm his beating blood pumper.

_Fuck! What the hell happened? One second I’m being gutted like a fish and the next I’m back where I started. There was no way I dreamed that. It was way too real. That means I really did die and get brought back to life in the past. How is that possible? It has to have something to do with whatever brought me here in the first place._

As these questions went through Lendrz’s mind, a familiar head of silver entered his field of vision. Lendrz’s eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks. Walking towards him was Satella, alive and well. She walked down the road, looking around the market with a small smile on her face, but Pack was nowhere to be found. Just seconds ago, she had been lying still in a puddle of her own blood.

I really did go back in time. Satella’s alive! Kadoma didn’t remember me, does that mean Satella won’t remember me either. There’s only one way to find out.

Lendrz approached Satella and raised a hand to stop her. “Uh, this might sound like a weird question, but do you know me at all? Have we met at all?” he asked.

Satella cocked her head to the side and looked at him questioningly before answering. “I’m sorry, but I ’ve never seen you before.”

“Y-yeah, I expected that. Sorry for bothering. I’m just a little out of sorts. I’ll just be on my way.”

An unsettling feeling of unrest swept over Lendrz followed by sharp disappointment when he realized that the girl he had grown to like quite well had completely forgotten him.

“Are you sure you’re okay? I know healing magic if you’re injured.” Satella leaned forward with a concerned look on her face.

Lendrz waved her concern away. “No, I’m fine. I just need some time to think. Thanks anyway.”

Lenrdrz hurried past Satella, not giving her a chance to stop him. He turned the corner and ducked into an alleyway out of Satella’s sight. Once he was sure she wasn’t trying to follow him, Lendrz sighed and leaned against the wall.

Looks like I really did go back in time and no one remembers me. Well, I’m alive at the moment, so there’s that. But who the fuck killed me in that house? Really don’t want to push it and find out if I’ll come back to life a second time. What am I going to do about Satella? Even without my help, she’ll probably find her way to that house and be killed.

Lendrz considered leaving her to her fate but quickly dismissed it. He had made fast friends with the silver-haired girl, even if she didn’t remember him or even know his name this time around. He had to make sure she wouldn't be killed today.

First things first, I have to find out more about that warehouse. After Satella is safe, I can see about getting me a magic teacher and move on. Maybe there’s even a way to go back home with magic. The best course of action would be to find out who keeps the peace around here. I would prefer to avoid another encounter. Satella said this place was the capital, so there’s bound to be some kind of law enforcement here.

“Well, what do we have here,” a familiar voice rang out.

Lendrz grimaced before turning around to face the gang of punks that had confronted him a life ago. There stood the punks who attempted to mug him, slowly approaching Lendrz.

“Wow, it’s you three again. I didn’t realize I walked into the same ally as before,” Lendrz said with a slight frown.

“What are you talking about? We’ve never seen you before,” the fat one said

"I don’t have time to waste on you three, so just get lost before I lose my patience,” Lendrz said irritably.

“Who do you think you’re talking to!?” the short one shouted, getting ready for a fight.

“I think I’m talking to a bunch of good for nothing thugs who should just turn around and leave if they know what’s good for them,” Lendrz hissed angrily, starting to tap his feet impatiently.

“You gonna get it to know,” the fat one growled, cracking his knuckles and began getting closer followed closely by the other two.

“What he said!” the skinny one added, raising his knives threateningly.

Lendrz hesitated before confronting the thugs. He hadn’t fought any regular of the inhabitants of this world before, so he didn’t know how durable these people were. As much as he despised these three, he would prefer to avoid killing them. This was also a good opportunity to see if there was any kind of law here.

Well, might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Lendrz cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted with all his might.

“Guards! Guards! Help, I’m being robbed!”

All three of them froze in their tracks with looks of shock etched upon their features.

H-hey! What are you doing? Keep it down!” the fat one said frantically, raising his hand to try and stop him, but he didn’t take another step forward. The others were panicking in a similar way.

“Come on! Just shut up!”

“Don’t call the guards.

The four of them waited for the guards to come barreling into the alley… and waited… and waited, but no one came.

“Ha! Looks like no one around to help you. We weren't worried at all,” the short one sighed in relief.

“Not at all,” the skinny one added.

“Now, back to business,” the fat one said as they continued their approach.

Lendrz tsched as he braced himself for the fight. Hopefully, he wouldn’t accidentally kill any of them. Making a scene was the last thing he wanted to do right now. Before anyone could make the first move, a voice interrupted them from behind Lendrz.

“That’s enough,” a cool, collective voice spoke out.

The highblood turned around and saw a man not much older than him with standing confidently on the other side of the alley. He wore a white double-breasted coat with long coattails, a high popped out collar, and light purple trim over a black turtleneck. There was a golden shield insignia upon his left bicep. Black gloves covered his hands and belt with a golden buckle. An elegant sword hung from his belt. All he could see was the hilt, the blade in a white scabbard with intricate golden embossment. It had a golden hilt that ended with a spike, and that was all that he could see. His eyes were an intense crystal blue and his hair was fiery red hair. A small confident smile was across his handsome face.

It seemed the trio of thugs recognized this man. When they spoke, their voices were trembling with fear.

“That red hair.”

“And a golden knight’s sword.”

“It can’t be Reinhard? The legendary swordsman Reinhard.”

Reinhard slowly almost leisurely began walking towards the group. “Seems I don’t need to introduce myself, though that whole title is a bit much. I don’t know if my strength will be enough for all three of you. However, if you three do intend to fight, as a knight I will have to defend myself,” he finished as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Screw this! Let’s get out of here!” the fat one said. All three of them turned tail and ran, stumbling over themselves in their hurry to get away.

After watching the three thugs tun with their tails tucked between their tails, Lendrz turned to thank his savior.

“Thanks for the help. Reinhard was it? The legendary swordsman? I know I asked for help, but I didn’t know I warranted a legendary swordsman,” Lendrz thanked, extending a hand to him.

Reinhard accepted his hand and shook. “It was nothing. If it were just me, things might have gone differently. If you would, please just call me Reinhard. My title is part of my family, and I’m afraid I often don’t live up to their expectations, he said, a sad look appearing on his face. The look disappeared just as quickly as it appeared as a smile found its way on his face again.

“Well, who you are doesn’t matter to me. Just glad you helped me out.”

Reinhard’s smile widened. “I’m happy to be of service,” he answered.

“This might sound a bit odd, but there's-” Lendrz caught himself before he said anything else. What was he going to say? That he had been killed and somehow had been resurrected back in time? How else could he expalain how he knewThey would think he was insane!

“What was that?” Reinhard inquired.

 

“Nevermind, it was nothing. Just thanks again for the help. I’m sure you have places to be. I know I do, so I won’t keep you,” Lendrz wished Reinhard farewell as he walked back into the street.

_Looks like the guards are out of the question unless I can get a reasonable solution to get their help without making him look suspicious. If I want to help Satella, I’ll have to do it by myself at the moment. I know how the thief looks, but not their name. I know where their hideout is located, and that there’s someone guarding it. Eventually, someone will kill the guard and I don’t know about the thief. My best bet is to try and beat both the murder to the hideout and “convincing the pair to hand over the insignia before the murder arrives. The thieve shouldn't be a problem, but the guard was a pretty big deal. I don’t know how strong the people are around here are, but I'm a highblood. I’m sure I can handle anything that man can throw at me and I won’t make the same mistake again._

Lendrz hurried down the familiar streets to the foot house. Things would be different this time. He would make sure of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The highblood was quickly approaching the safehouse. Just like he expected, he remembered the way exactly. The welcome wasn’t any warmer during the day than it was during the night. There were more people out and about, humans and inhumans, young and old, but everyone avoided him like the plague. That worked fine for Lendrz. He had a clear destination in mind, and he couldn't waste any time with any distractions.

Lendrz turned a corner and bumped into another taller person. “Hey, watch where you’re going,” he said as he brushed himself off.

“Oh my, you have sincerest apologies. I do hope you’re okay,” a very familiar feminine voice said.

Lendrz’s head snapped up and he froze where he stood. That voice was the very same that he had heard in his past life. It was the voice of the woman who had gutted him and taunted him as she did it. The voice he wouldn't forget for a long time. Lendrz’s blood pusher threatened to leap out of his chest and his breath caught in his throat and his hand flew to cover his gut. His mind was screaming at him to move, but his muscles refused to move and he breathed with short ragged gasps.

The woman in front of him was tall beautiful and scantily clad. She wore a tight black one piece that was split down the middle to just below her navel and stockings. Separate sleeves covered her arms. The odd clothing continued almost like a loincloth that ended with purple fur. She wore a long black cloak with a large purple fur collar. She wore black heels and a purple flower in her short hair with a braded ponytail to the side. She looked down at him with her beautiful, almost delicate features. Her emotionless, almost lifeless violet eyes stared into Lendrz’s own black ones.

There was no mistaking it, this person, this beautiful monster was the same one that killed him in his past life. Despite the imminent danger, Lendrz couldn’t muster the will to move.

Come on, move! If I can’t move, I’ll just die again!

“There’s no need to be afraid. I’m not going to do anything to you,” she said softly.

Lendrz ground his teeth together harshly. Rage began to overcome fear as he looked at his past murderer. She had the gall to stab him in the back and taught him as she gutted him. His grip tightened on his staff.

“I am not afraid of you,” Lendrz growled through his grinding teeth.

“Oh, but you are. Your anger is so strong, it almost hides it. Almost. I can smell your fear, even if you try to hide it. Behind all that intense anger, there’s an even stronger fear. And all of it is directed at me, isn’t it? It’s almost intoxicating,” she said softly, almost a whisper as she licked her lips.

Lendrz let out a deep growl from deep within his throat. He had enough of her coy His muscles tensed tightly, ready to defend himself once she made her move, but he kept his hand pressed to his gut.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. At least, not right now. Lucky for you, I can’t afford to cause a commotion right now, even if I am curious. Farwell,” said as she continued past him.

Lendrz growled again as she walked past him and muttered one last thing before she walked out of earshot.

“You’ll get what’s coming to you eventually,” the highblood said softly, just loud enough where he sure the woman heard.

The woman quickly rushed back to Lendrz, close enough where he could feel her warm breath across his face and smell her flowery perfume.

“That’s right. Keep that resentment boiling within you. It only makes what’s coming all the sweeter,” she gently cooed as she pressed her hand to the hand covering his stomach.

“Anyway, I need to get going. I’m sure we’ll meet each other soon,” she continued. “Until then, keep that resentment boiling inside you.”

She removed her hand from Lendrz’s and resumed her walk down the road. Lendrz watched her until she disappeared around a corner. Lendrz swallowed the lump in his throat once he was sure that the woman was gone and wasn’t coming back. Through the entire conversation, Lendrz had his hand pressed his stomach, the pain of being gutted still fresh in his mind. He scowled, irritated that he had frozen like that. If she had actually tried to kill him again, she would have likely been successful.

_There’s no mistaking it. That’s the woman who killed me. She was at the loothouse during the night, but she heading the wrong right now. I don’t know why she comes into the loothouse or why she kills that big guy during the night. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get the insignia and leave before she arrives. Or I can try to intercept the thief before she makes it to her loothouse. I could try to find where she lives, but she probably will try to get rid of the insignia as soon as possible, so that could just be a big waste of time. My best bet is still the loothouse._

Lendrz continued to the loothouse. The sooner he had the insignia and was out of here, the better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here he was, just like he was here on his previous life. The building was just as rickety and run down as it was the last time. Lendrz stepped closer to the door and reached out to knock, but hesitated.

This is insane! I’m right back to where I was gutted. There’s no way this will end well, but I don’t have much choice. Getting ahold of the insignia is my best bet to get a decent start in this world. If I come out of this empty-handed, I better get comfortable around here. I won't have many options to choose from The insignia also seems very important to Satella. Helping her out is an added bonus.

Ignoring the uneasy stirring within his hut, Lendrz finally knocked.

“Who’s there!?” a deep gruff voice called out from within the building.

Good. The man’s still alive.

“I’m here to make a deal,” Lendrz called through the door.

There was rustling and heavy footsteps approaching the door. The person threw the door open and stared down at Lendrz. The troll was taken back when he saw the dark-skinned giant again. The last time he had seen the man was when he was long dead and gutted. It was jarring seeing the dead man alive and without a drop of blood on him despite expecting it.

The man was towered over Lendrz, but still not quite as tall as adult highbloods. A short tattered jacket was worn over a short blue short, leaving his chest and stomach bare. Equally ragged pants covered his legs. White hair covered his chest and forams. A chain was warped around him from hip to shoulder and a red cloth was wrapped around his waist like his belt. He was broad shouldered and every part of him was covered with thick muscles. The top of his head was completely bald with a light red tattoo curled on the side of his head and similar tattoos wrapped around his wrist and back of his hands. A few large, but faint scars were scattered around his bodies, such as an x on his right shoulder and three diagonal scars on his left forearm. His long droopy eyebrows had colorful beads braided into them.

“Who are you? What do you want? You don’t even know the password,” the man asked in a deep rough voice, still strong, but slightly cracked with age. His eyes looked him over suspiciously.

“Like I said I’m here to deal. There’s an insignia that you either have or will have soon. I’ll be willing to negotiate for it,” Lendrz answered.

The large man looked him over once again. “You’re not the buyer, are you? And how do you know about the insignia?” the man questioned.

“My name is Lendrz Ridrez, and I’m someone who wants that insignia. Your other buyer isn’t here either, but I am. Isn’t that all you need to know?” Lendez retorted.

The man stared at him for a few seconds longer. “Fine step inside,” he said, stepping aside to allow Lendrz in. “I’m called Rom, by the way,” he added.

Lendrz entered the safehouse. It was just like he remembered, with weapons and all kinds of valuables were stashed everywhere. Lendrz noticed a few stools by the bar and took a seat. The giant closed the door behind him before stepping behind the counter.

“Nice place. You live here?” Lendrz asked.

“Nah, no one lives here. This is just a safehouse. You want anything to drink kid?” Rom asked as he grabbed a large jug from under the counter and took a large swig.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass,’ answered Lendrz, eying Rom as he greedily chugged from the jug. A light pink began to spread across his cheeks as he drank more and more.

“Suit yourself,” he said before taking another drink. “It’s Lendrz, right? How’d you hear about the insignia? It was a private contract.

Lendrz had to stop himself from clucking in irritation. He had to think of something fast. “Does it really matter? All you need to know is that I’m a paying customer,” Lendrz answered.

Rom gave a great rumbling laugh and his large shoulders shook up and down. “I guess I don’t. Speaking of which, what are you gonna pay for the insignia,” he said once he calmed down. “Felt isn’t here right now. Just wait outside until she comes back unless you feel like looking or her yourself. But, if she doesn’t want to be found, you’re outta luck.”

Lendrz frowned. Being a highblood, Rom dismissing him like he was a nobody was unfamiliar. He thought about protesting but decided against it. The day was still young and Lendrz wanted some time to think. He stood from his seat at the bar and stepped out into the slums.

The highblood took a seat on the stairs leading into the hideout. He closed his eyes and basked in the pleasant warmth of the sun. Not being roasted alive in seconds was a pleasant change of pace from Alternia.

So, the thief's name is Felt. The sooner she gets here, the better. That scum that gutted me the first time is around here somewhere. At some point, she’s going to come here and kill everyone in this house, so I need to take the insignia before she comes here. I have no idea where Felt is right now. Unless I feel like searching the entire slums for her, waiting in here is my best bet.

The highblood felt the warm sun on his skin as he waited leaned back and waited for Felt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, you’re blocking my way!” a familiar voice shouted.

Lendrz lazily opened one eye and found the same blond girl that ran by him in the ally, the thief known as Felt. He slowly stood up, brushed himself off and looked off into the sky. Lendrz had almost dozed off as he was waiting for her. The sun was almost beginning to set, bathing the slums with golden light.

“Don’t just ignore me! Who are you and what are you doing here?” she demanded, stamping a foot as she shouted.

“My name is Lendrz Ridrez, and I’m here to trade for that insignia you’re carrying,” Lendrz finally answered. “I’ve already talked to the big man inside.”

Felt continued to eye Lendrz suspiciously for a little while longer before relenting. “Fine. Now, move out of the way!”

Lendrz nodded and stepped aside to allow her past. She walked up to the door and knock sharply twice. The great deep voice of Rom spoke from behind the door.

“For a rat?” Rom asked.

“Poison,” Felt answered without skipping a beat.

“For a white whale?”

“A harpoon.”

“And to the noble dragon, we are?”

“Shitbags.”

Lendrz couldn’t help but give a small chuckle the last part of the riddle. “That was a good one,” the highblood said as Rom opened the door to let the pair in.

“Sorry about the wait old man. The target was more persistent than expected,” Felt said as she entered with Lendrz following behind. “It took me a while to shake them.”

Felt made a beeline to the bar and sat down on one of the stools. Rom lumbered behind the bar and poured her a glass of milk from a bottle under the counter. In his hand, the cup looked like a teacup for a toy. Felt took the cup and took a smile sip. That small sip was all it took to make the little thief frown.

“Hey, old man Rom, did you water down this milk?” Felt asked, pushing away the cup.

“I give you something outta the goodness of my heart, and you call it gross?” Rom said in an overly dramatic fashion. He reached a massive hand across the table and gently ruffled Felt’s hair. She tried to remove his hand, but even without any force behind Rom’s hand, she couldn’t even budge the arm an inch.

The sight of Rom’s playful teasing reminded Lendrz of a lusus and their troll. Lendrz felt a heavy pit in the bottom of his stomach. He wondered if he would ever find a way back home to see his lusus one day or one of the few trolls he could stand to talk to.

“You two really get along, don’t you?” asked Lendrz after Rom finally removed his hand much to Felt’s relief.

“Well, old man Rom did raise since I was a kid,” Felt answered.

“Really? Thit guy managed to raise someone,” Lendrz laughed, imagining the old giant actually managing to take care of a younger Felt.

The troll had a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that people of this world took care of their own. He was also sure that Rom wasn’t Felt’s ancestor. It was even more baffling that anyone would bother raising random wrigglers.

Rom grunted and eyed Lendrz and Felt suspiciously. “You two aren’t in some conspiracy to piss me off aren’t you?” he asked.

“Okay, let’s get back to business, shall we. How much are you willing to pay for it?’ asked Felt

“Before we go any further, I’d like to see the insignia myself,” Lendrz countered.

“Sure. No problem, bro,” Felt said. She reached into her back pocket and showed Lendrz the insignia.

This was the first time Lendrz had actually seen the insignia himself. It was smaller than Lendrz expected, about the size of a large marble. It was made up of smooth black stone and triangular-shaped. There was a simple roaring golden dragon design upon its face. There was a bright red glowing gem coming from the mouth of the dragon.

Lendrz nodded and reached into his pocket to retrieve his pocket husk, but hesitated for a moment. His pocket husk was his only line of communication with any of his old friends. At this point, he was willing to talk to Terezi or even Vriska. Even thinking about having to ask that troll for help left a foul taste in his mouth. On the other hand, it was completely useless in this word. Finally, he took the pocket husk and showed it to the man.

“I don’t have any money, but I’m willing to trade with this. I’m sure you won’t find anything like this in the entire world.,” Lendrz said as he presented him the pocket husk.

Rom took the pocket husk from Lendrz and examined it curiously. He turned it over in his hands but couldn’t help figure out what it is. Lendrz was afraid that he would accidentally crush the pocket husk to pieces, but he was surprisingly gentle.

“What is this?” asked Rom as he handed it back to Lendrz.

“It an enchanted item,” Lendrz said, struggling to keep his eyes from rolling. “It has the power to capture images and record them inside of itself. Here, let me show you how it works.”

Lendrz pushed the power button and opened the camera application. Felt and Rom leaned in close. Lendrz pointed it to the pair. The flash lit up Rom’s and Felt’s faces and the camera clicked. Both of them recoiled from the sudden light.

“Hey, what was that?” Felt demanded, shielding her eyes.

“What’s that sound. It’s too bright,” Rom said, covering his eyes with one massive hand.

“Relax. I’m just showing you how it works,” Lendrz said waving off their concerns. He looked over the picture and stifled a giggle. Felt was wide-eyed and her eyes had a bright pink light within them. Rom was leaned in close and his eyes were focused directly on the camera lens. Lendrz showed them the picture to the pair.

“And here it is,” Lendrz said. “A perfect image displayed right here.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!” exclaimed Felt.”

“I’ve never seen anything like that. It must be one of Metia I’ve been hearing about lately, right?” Rom asked.

“What exactly is a metia?” asked Lendrz.

“It’s just the name people call devices that let people who perform magic without using their gate, just like real mages,” Rom answered as he raised his hand to his chin.

“I don’t care about any of that,” Felt added. “All I care about is how much I can sell it for!”

“I don’t know how much this is for sure. This is my first time seeing a metia, but I’d say you could get at least twenty holy coins for it,” Rom answered.

Upon hearing the value of the pocket husk, Felt’s eyes lit up. “Twenty holy coins! That’s twice what my contractor said they’ll pay!” Felt shouted gleefully.

Lendrz sighed, relieved that the pocket husk was enough to get the insignia back. “Now with that cleared up, I’ll just take that insignia off your hands and be on my way,” Lendrz said as he reached for the insignia still in Felt’s hand. Before he could take it, Felt moved out of Lendrz’s reach.

“Not so fast!” Felt shouted.

“Hey, what’s the big idea? You heard what the old man. The metia is worth twice what your original buyer is offering. I don’t see why you don’t want to make the deal,” Lendrz said, growing frustrated at the thief's sudden refusal.

“Hey, you’re not the only one negotiating for the insignia. I want to see if my other buyer is willing to up her price. Besides, I was asked to steal it by her in the first place,” Felt countered.

Lendrz rolled his eyes. ‘Fine. When is your buyer gonna show? The sooner we get this over with, the better,” he said.

“Don’t worry about that. The negotiations will take place here anyway. That way, I have old man Rom here in case the client tries anything funny,” she said, gesturing the giant.

Two knocks interrupted them. Rom looked to the door and asked, “Does the buyer know the password.”

“Oh, I didn’t mention it. Still, that’s probably them. I’ll be right back,” she said as she stood from her seat and began making her way to the door.

“So, you’re the muscle between the two,” Lendrz stated rather than asked.

‘There’s a little more to it than that,” Rom said. “We’ve known each other long time,” The giant reached past the array of weapons and took a club big enough to dwarf some smaller people. He hid it underneath the counter within reach.

“I’m sure you noticed this isn’t exactly the nice part of town. Everyone 'round here does whatever they can to survive. It’s hard to make alone, so lots of people band together. Felt’s tough, but not tough enough to make it on her own. That’s why I gotta look out for her,” Rom answered.

In that regard, this place isn’t too different from Alternia. Back home, friendship is largely a means of survival.

“I was right. It’s the buyer,” Felt called out as she approached and sat back down.

Lendrz turned to get a look at who the buyer was. What he saw made his blood freeze. Stepping through the door was none other than Elsa, the woman who gutted and killed him.

“It looks like there are outsiders here,” Elsa said, looking over Rom and Lendrz. When her eyes met Lendrz’s, she licked her lips.

“Well, if you tried to cheat me, I’d be in big trouble. Weaklings like me gotta think ahead,” Felt said confidently as she rested her hands behind her head.

“I know the older man, but who exactly is the horned one,’ Elsa said, her eyes never leaving Lendrz.

“He’s your competition,” Felt answered. “He also wants the insignia and made a good offer.”

Elsa continued staring with an almost doll-like expression.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four of them were seated together at a small table. Elsa had just finished off a cup of milk Rom had provided and licked her lips while the highblood kept his staff on his lap. Lendrz and Elsa were on opposite sides and felt and Rom were seated in the same fashion. Lendrz felt uneasy being so close to the sadistic murder, be he refused to give Elsa the satisfaction of seeing him squirm. Elsa merely sat with a small smile on her face. With a confident voice, Felt was the one to open negotiations.

“Both of you want the insignia, so you’ll have to bid for it. I don’t really care who gets it, so it goes to the highest bidder,” Felt explained.

“Understood. Let’s get this over with,” Lendrz said as he placed his pocket husk on the table.

“That right there is a rare piece of metia that can copy images in real life and show them in itself. It’s worth about twenty holy coins,” Rom explained.

“I see,” she said without any concern or surprise in her voice. “As it happens, my employer has given me some extra funds just in case something came up.”

“Wait a minute, employer? That means you don’t even want the insignia for yourself,” Lendrz asked.

“Correct. It’s my client that wants it. I’m afraid I’m not very interested in such baubles myself,” Elsa answered.

“Your competition is in the lead. I can sell the metia for way more than ten holy coins. How much can you pay?” Felt said.

Elsa reached into her cloak and retrieved a small burlap sack. She upturned the sack and allowed the contents to spill onto the table. Shining silver coins with dragons and trees etched upon their faces fell into a small pile. The sight of the pile made Lendrz second guess the strength of his deal. He assumed all of those coins were holy coins.

Felt gasped loudly when she saw the coins, but didn’t say anything else. Rom seemed unfazed by the pile of coins. He calmly sorted the coins into stacks of five.

“Twenty holy coins exactly,” Rom said.

“This is all the money my employer gave to me,’ Elsa said. “Is it enough?”

Lendrz scowled and crossed his arms, but Rom interrupted him. “Don’t make that face. Be a man. Your metia is worth at least twenty holy coins. Chances are, Felt can sell it for a bit more. You’re still the winner." He turned to Elsa. "Sorry to tell you this, but you better pack up your coins and go.”

The highblood let out a deep breath, but he still refused to relax. From his past life, he knew that she murders everyone anyway. Elsa stood up, the same doll-like smile never leaving her face even when she lost.

“It seems I’ve lost. Well, it’s my employer’s fault for trying to underpay, but I’ll take my leave now,” she said. “By the way, what do you plan to do with the insignia?

“I don’t think it’s very wise to tell someone what you plan to do with stolen property,” Lendrz answered, watching her for any sudden movements.

“What a shame. I guess I’ll never know what you’ll do with it know,” Elsa responded. As soon as she finished her sentence, the room seemed to stand still and no one made a sound. She reached into her cloak and Lendrz saw something glint in the dim candlelight. Lendrz reacted fast and jumped out away from Elsa, narrowly avoiding a blinding fast swing from her dagger. Both Rom and felt jumped back as well once Elsa made her intentions clear.

Else had her arm straight out. In her hand was a large strange dagger shining in the light. It had a curved hilt. The purple and black blade was thin at the hilt but widened greatly the further it was.

“Oh my, you actually managed to dodge. You’re faster than you look,” Elsa said almost casually with a wide smile and her eyes shadowed from the light.

Before anyone else could make a move, Rom retrieved his club from behind the counter and charged at Elsa, shouting angrily as he did. The smile faded from Elsa’s face as Rom charged. Rom swung his giant staff with incredible strength, but Elsa gracefully jumped out of harm’s way. The giant crushed the table and chairs where Elsa stood only a moment before. Elsa jumped from table to table, avoiding every one of Rom’s swings as he continued his assault. The loot house shook with every strike and the sound was like a rockslide. His club shattered everything it struck.

“I’m so excited. This is my first battle to the death with a giant,” Elsa said giddily.

“Quite, little girl. I’ll grind you up and fee you to the rats! Rom shouted as he swung again, only for Elsa to jump out of the way once again.

Else was running out of room to move. Rom’s relentless assault was forcing her closer and closer a wall. She began blocking his attacks. Sparks flew in every direction every time their weapons met, but Elsa managed to take the force of his strength without faltering.

Lendrz growled, gathering his energy into his staff, despite the risk of burning the house down. The staff glowed a gentle purple, but with Rom and Elsa fighting so erratically, it was too risky to try to land a hit. There was a temptation to run, but Lendrz ignored it. If Elsa did not die today, there would always be a risk of her tracking him down. She didn’t seem like the type to leave loose ends. Felt, on the other hand, didn’t seem worried at all.

“Don’t worry. There’s no way Rom can lose,” she said confidently.

Rom readied one huge swing, putting his entire body into the effort. Elsa simply stood still and allowed him to wind up.

“Take this!” Rom shouted as he put everything into this one strike. He swung downward to crush her entire body in one attack.

Elsa smiled as she twirled to the side and used the force behind the swing to severe his giant arm in one swing. The large severed arm flew through the air and landed with a loud thud. Blood splattered all over the room, splattering Felt and Lendrz with the warm liquid.

“Old man Rom!”

Seeing the giant disabled so easily brought Felt to her knees. Lendrz’s eyes widened and his grip on his staff slackened. Elsa had just sliced Rom’s arm off without any effort. For a moment, Lendrz though that the giant could have won.

Despite losing an arm, Rom still stood. He was panting heavily as the blood gushed from the bloody stump.

“Dam it,” Rom gasped raggedly.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Elsa said to herself, ignoring the scene before her.

“I can take you with me!” Rom shouted as he charged, his one remaining arm poised to strike.

Elsa stood still and allowed the giant to charge her. When he was within reach, Elsa simply raised the shattered cup that she had drank milk from earlier and stabbed it deep into his throat,

“Thank you for the milk,” Elsa said with a smile.

Rom manages to stay on his feet for a few seconds, gasping and struggling. His giant body twitched and blood gushed from his mouth before he finally collapsed onto his back and lied still.

“I shall return this,” she said as she set the bloodstained glass on the ground by her feet.

“You bitch! How dare you!” Felt shouted both rage and sadness were heavy in her voice. She roses to her feet and clenched her hands into fists.

“You two are still here? I was so wrapped up with the giant, I almost forgot about you two. It’s a shame things had to go this way,” Elsa said nonchalantly as she leveled the blade at the remaining pair with the same smile she often wore. Lendrz was beginning to really hate that smile. He tightened his grip on his staff and pressed his sharp claws into his palm. Cold purple blood leaked his hand and dripped to the floor.

“Like you didn’t intend to kill us anyway, you psychopath,” Felt growled under her breath. She rubbed some of Rom’s blood off her face as she glared as Elsa.

Elsa twirled her blades in her hands so fast they appeared as black and purple blurs. “Don’t bother trying to resist or my hand might slip. Despite what you saw, I’m not very good with knives,” she taunted. Her blades stopped and she made stabbing motions at the pair.

Felt didn’t say a word. Instead, in an explosion of wind, she dashed forward blindingly fast. In a fraction of a second, she appeared on Elsa’s side.

“Blessing of wind,’ Elsa said without any fear or surprise in her voice. “My, you are truly loved by this world. I envy you.”

Felt drew her dagger and slashed downward, but Elsa simply sidestepped the strike. Elsa raised her own blade and prepared to finish her off. Before she could actually strike, a flaming purple bolt flashed across the room and would have struck Elsa if she had not jumped out of the way. The bolt cut through the wooden wall and the flames began to spread.

Felt and Elsa turned to see Lendrz with his face contorted with rage and his hand outstretched and palm facing Elsa. The yellow of his eyes was beginning to darken to a deep red. Fear had been completely replaced by rage.

“It seems our friend here has finally decided to join us. Maybe you aren’t as much as a coward as I thought,” Elsa taunted.

“Step aside, Felt,” Lendrz growled through his teeth. “I’ll tear this motherfucker apart!”

Lendrz charged Elsa and his staff toward her head, but she ducked under his swing. She responded with a quick swipe at his gut. Lendrz jumped back, feeling the blade cut through his clothing, but not his flesh. Lendrz channeled energy into his free hand and thrust it forward. A small purple explosion blasted from his hand. Elsa flipped over Lendrz, avoiding the explosion and landed gracefully behind Lendrz. The flames began to spread more and more across the loothouse.

Before Lendrz could react, Elsa buried her blade deep into Lendrz side. He gasped as he felt the cold steel and spun around, swinging his staff as he did so. Elsa easily dodged the wild strike.

Lendrz and Elsa began to circle each other. The smile never left Elsa’s face. Lendrz’s teeth were bared and a deep growl was coming from Lendrz’s throat. Dark purple blood flowed from the stab wound in his side and stained his clothing, but he was unfazed by it. His eyes were completely red by now. His pupils were two small dots in a sea of red, completely consumed with rage. When Elsa noticed the purple blood begin to drip through his shirt, a bright pink spread across her face.

"Oh my, such a beautiful shade of purple~ I can’t wait to see you entrails,” Elsa almost sang and she stared at Lendrz’s stomach.

Elsa charged forward. Lendrz charged his staff with purple flame and swung, but Elsa easily dodged and sank her blade deep inside his gut. With a growl, Lendrz swiped at her face with his free hand. Elsa quickly dodged backward and jumped high into the air, ripping the blade from his gut painfully. She flipped through the air and landed with her back to Lendrz.

“It seems I was careless,” Elsa said casually. “She turned to face Lendrz, revealing four claw marks racking across her face. Seeing the blood flow down her face brought him a primal satisfaction and a sharp smile to his face. He wanted to see more of it and everywhere.

Elsa licked some of the blood that trailed down to her lips. “This just got interesting,” she said. “I don’t care if you kill me. Just don’t disappoint me.” She gave Lendrz her own sadistic smile.

“Enough talking. Just killing,” Lendrz hissed angrily.

Elsa charged forward, but Lendrz didn't bother trying to dodge. She raised her blade, but Lendrz still didn't move. The assassin plunger her blade deep into his gut. Instead of pulling away, Lendrz grunted and wrapped his hand tightly around Elsa’s hand. She tried to pull away, but he refused to give an inch. Elsa reached into her cloak and pulled out another blade. She stabbed at Lendrz’s throat. He dodged to the side without letting go, but not far enough to dodge completely. The blade bit deep into his shoulder.

“I hope this hurts!” Lendrz shouted, raising his staff to Elsa. Before she could dodge, Lendrz channeled his psionic energy through his staff and exploded it outwards. Elsa only had time to gasp before the explosion sent her crashing through the wooden wall.

Lendrz stepped through the smoldering hole into the night and pulled the knife out of his shoulder and tossed it on the ground in disgust. The flames had almost consumed the loothouse by this point, illuminating the darkness with bright light. The highblood scanned the area, looking for Elsa. He spotted a blast mark in the dirt, but the assassin was nowhere to be found.

“Shit! She got away,” Lendrz growled. “I really would have liked to see that bitch burn!”

“Is she gone?” a small voice asked from beside Lendrz.

Lendrz turned his head to see Felt standing just outside the hole in the building. The same little girl who was foolish enough to make a deal with Elsa. The same girl who refused to sell him the amulet despite the fact that he made a better offer. In fact, she was the one who stole the insignia in the first place.

“This is all your fault, isn’t?” Lendrz said coldly.

“Wait, what?” Felt asked with fear in her voice as she stepped away from Lendrz. Her face was wrought with grief and fear.

“You heard me. All of this? It’s all your fault,” Lendrz said, turning to face Felt with a feral snarl on his face. He began stepping closer to her. “You made the deal with Elsa, you stole the insignia. Like I said. It’s all. Your. Fault.”

Soon Lendrz was looming over Felt, but he noticed something glittering in her eyes. The light of the fire caused a clear watery liquid to glint in the night. It took a moment for Lendrz to realize that Felt was crying.

_This isn’t right. Felt doesn’t deserve this._

Lendrz’s shoulders sank and his snarl faded. The rage that had driven him was now fading “Listen, I’m s-”

A large icicle slammed into Lendrz’s hand, knocking the staff away from him. Lendrz bared his teeth and whipped around to find his attacker, his rage reignited. Standing some distance from him was a silver-haired girl. She seemed oddly familiar to Lendrz, but the rage clouded his mind too much to think straight. One of her hands was raised to Lendrz. Felt took the distraction to disappeared in a burst of wind.

“Who the fuck are you to dare raise a hand against me!?” Lendrz bellowed, staring into her violet eyes.

The girl ignored his demand. “Step away from the girl,” she calmly demanded. “If you surrender peacefully, I won’t harm you.”

Lendrz spat in her direction. “An inferior telling their superior what to do? How disgusting. Here’s my proposal. How about you scream nice and loud for while I tear you limb from limb? Does that sound nice?” the highblood growled.

“Just look at yourself. You can barely stand.”

Lendrz glanced downwards. During the fight, he had been stabbed and slashed multiple times. Most of his clothing was ripped to shreds. What was left was soaked with cold purple blood and the bleeding showed no signs of slowing.

“Shut up! I’m well enough to kill you,” Lendrz hissed.

“As you wish,” the silver-haired girl. The air around her began to drop in temperature and ice began to form. Lendrz only laughed in response.

“You really think ice can stop my fire? I don’t even need my staff.” Lendrz taunted.

Lendrz formed a purple fireball in his palm and flicked it towards the girl. She reacted fast and jumped out of range of the explosion. Lendrz launched fireball after fireball at the girls, but she avoided everyone. His head began to ache, and his limbs felt like they were made of lead. It seemed the earlier fight had drained him more than he expected.

After ducking under a fireball that almost took off her head, the girl quickly formed and launched an icicle at Lendrz’s feet. It struck the earth between his feet. Instead of shattering, the ice began to spread very quickly. Within a matter of seconds, Lendrz’s feet were rooted to the floor with ice.

“Shit!” Lendrz exclaimed.

_How can she beat me!? This isn’t the way it was supposed to happen!_

Lendrz tried to pull his feet from the ice, but he was far too weak to do so. It continued to climb higher and higher. The cold felt like needles stabbing into his flesh as it spread. Lendrz had abandoned his offense and attempted to try to channel his flame through his frozen flesh, but his energy was too drained to muster up even a spark. Lendrz reached down to try and break the ice around his legs, but his hands became rooted in the ice the second they touched it. The ice had reached past his stomach and showed no sign of stopping. The sound of footsteps made him look up to see the silver-haired girl approaching. She stood before him with a steadfast expression.

“I hope that you find peace,” was all she said.

Before Lendrz could even say anything in response, she laid her hand across his cheeks almost gently. Her hand was freezing and ice began spreading across his face and the rest of his body. Soon, Lendrz was covered completely with ice. The cold was all-consuming. It was all that he was he could think about, overpowering his rage. Slowly, his rage dissipated completely.

The cold was all he could feel, all he could think about. Slowly, even the feeling of the cold began to fade. And then there was nothing.


	3. Third Time's the Charm

The cold. That was all Lendrz could feel. Cold so intense that it drowned out all other sensations, even his rage. Lendrz could hear a distant voice, but it was so faint he couldn’t understand a word. The voice persisted, getting a little louder.

“Hey, didn't you hear me? You okay, kid? You’re shakin’ like a leaf,” a familiar voice said.

Lendrz opened his eyes. Yet again he was standing in front of the Kadomon’s stand. Just like he said, despite the sun hanging high in the air, he was shivering. Lendrz opened his mouth to say something, but no words formed. 

“If you’re gonna pass out, can you at least do someplace else?” Kadomon asked, iration beginning to creep into his voice. He crossed his arms and eyed Lendrz suspiciously

“S-sorry,” Lendrz stammered with chattering teeth. “I-I’ll be leaving n-now.” He quickly turned and walked into the busy street.

As Lendrz half walked, half staggered through the crowd, he once again noticed a familiar head of silver hair amongst it. He almost took a step to Satella, but he stopped himself, the memories of his past life flooded back into his mind. How he had gone into a rage and how she had frozen him, killing him.

The highblood scowled and ducked back into a familiar alley. Lendrz leaned against the wall and stared down at his hands. This was the first time he had lost his temper and gone berserk. He couldn’t help but emit a deep growl from within his chest when he remembered the half elf’s face as she froze him solid.

_Though, I suppose I can’t blame her. I was in the middle of a rage, but the whole ordeal leaves a foul taste in my mouth. Speaking of foul tastes, those three should be arriving soon._

Right on cue, an annoyingly familiar voice called out from further in the alley. “Well, look at we have here?” it said.

“I don’t have time to deal with you, three idiots. I’m not in the mood to humor you even for a moment,” Lendrz said without looking up. Before any of the three thugs could respond, he called out for the guards once again.

“Guards! I’m being robbed!” 

Lendrz didn’t bother sparing a glance at the three. He already knew what was going to happen anyway.

_What to do, what to do? Even if Satella was justified in… killing me, it’s hard to forgive someone killing you. I suppose compared to my other death, this one wasn’t as horrendously painful. Still, I’m in another world with no connections or money. I could try selling my pockethusk. It is worth more than twenty holy coins, but I have no idea who to sell it to. Rom and Felt are the only people who showed interest in it, but they’ll be killed before tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll just be able to go from door to door and asking anybody if they want to buy a metia from a homeless stranger. They might even think I stole it._

Lendrz felt a tap on his shoulder, rousing him from his thoughts. He looked up to see the red-haired knight. Once the knight saw that he had his attention, he smiled.

“I apologize, but you seemed distracted. I tried talking to you, but you didn’t seem to hear a word,” Reinhard said with a smile.

“If that’s the case, shouldn’t I be the one who apologizes. You also chased those thugs off,” Lendrz said, his mind still trying to think of an answer to his dilemma.

“I did, but you didn’t seem very worried. You didn’t even look up.”

“Yeah, well, I have a lot on my mind right now.”

“Is that so? If you don’t mind me asking, what is on your mind?”

Lendrz hesitated. He wanted to avoid another fight with Elsa at all cost and standing before him was the legendary swordsman Reinhard. In his last life, he had simply brushed Reinhard aside. If his reputation had truth to it, he could prove to be more than a much to Elsa. If Lendrz wanted his help, he would have to be careful to not raise unnecessary questions.

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen a suspicious person wandering around the poor district,” Lendrz said.

“Really? How did this person look like?” Reinhard asked as he crossed his arms.

“She wore a black and purple cloak over what I hesitate to call clothing. Her hair is black and short except for a long braid. She was pale and had purple eyes. I think I've also seen a knife on her,” Lendrz said, making sure to choose his words carefully.

The smile on Reinhard’s face vanished and was replaced with a serious look. “Please, can you tell me how her daggers looked? If what I suspect is true, immediate action is required,” Reinhard said.

Lendrz suppressed a shiver. He would be remembering that knife for a while whether he wanted to or not. “I do. It was made of purple and black metal. The handle was curved. It was narrow at the base, but it widens and curves back. I only saw one, but I think she has more,” Lendrz said carefully.

Reinhard tensed and looked to be deep in thought. “That description can only match one person,” the legendary swordsman whispered to himself. He looked up to Lendrz, all trace of his earlier relaxed deminer gone. 

“Thank you for this information,” Reinhard said with a small bow. “The person who just described is known as Elsa, bowl hunter. She’s a very dangerous and sadistic assassin. You made the correct choice to contact the guards. This may be my day off, but I’ll need to handle this personly. Is there any more you can tell me?”

Lendrz hesitated. While Reinhard now knew that Elsa was in the poor district, but he didn’t know where she would go, what she was doing, or anybody else was involved. No ordinary bystander would know wany of that.

_So far, I haven’t said anything that any random bystander would know. If I say any more, I risk raising suspicion._

“Please, if you know anything else, please don’t be afraid to say anything. Anything you say can help,” Reinhard pressed on.

The highblood paused. _I’ve told him all I know about the situation that any bystander could know. If I tell him any more, I’ll risk making him suspicious. Satella also killed me in my last life… even if I was in a highblood rage. Rom and Felt may die if they if Reinhard doesn't reach them soon enough. I wonder if either of them even knows they’re dealing with an assassin know as the bowl hunter._

Reinhard was patiently waiting for an answer. “No, I don’t know anything else,” Lendrz answered.

The swordsman gave a small bow. “Thank you- oh, I still don’t know your name.”

“It’s Lendrz Ridrez,” he answered.

“Thank you, Lendrz. You’ve performed a valuable service. I will see to this matter myself immediately,” Reinhard said. He turned and quickly left the alley towards the poor district.

Lendrz watched the redhead go. Once he was gone, he leaned against the alley and sighed. “So, what now?” he asked himself.

With Reinhard heading off to face off Elsa, Lendrz had passed the buck to him. That being said, he was still stuck in a different world with no money, connections, or even a place to sleep. 

“What to do? What to do?” Lendrz asked himself. He stared at his own hands with a frown. “Judging by my fight with Elsa, I am strong and durable by this world’s standards. I can always get a job as a mercenary or bodyguard. Maybe there’s a guild around here or something. With my staff, I can try and pass as a mage or something, but I can only create fires, which, again, means I can only find work as a mercenary or bodyguard.”

Lendrz sighed again and ran his fingers through his hair. “As much as I would like to avoid a life of violence, starving is the other alternative.” He moved to leave in the opposite direction Reinhard went but stopped before he stepped into the street and looked back where the wordsman had left. “Good luck, Reinhard. You better live up to your name.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In just about every fantasy book Lendrz ever read on Alternia, whenever the hero needed information, they always went to a tavern and asked the barkeep for information. It’s not like he had any other leads.

The troll walked down the busy street for what felt like an hour, casting his gaze from one side to the other. So far, he hadn’t found anything to help him. All the signs were in a different language. Lendrz crossed his arms and was just about to give up when he saw a small commotion in the distance.

On a street corner, he could see a scaly figure stumble out of a small rectangular building. He staggered around the entrance for a few seconds before falling into a seating position and lying still. All the people on the street gave the collapsed lizard a wide berth, ignoring him completely. Lendrz sped up a little. Drunks meant taverns.

Once Lendrz was standing before the small building. The lizard collapsed next to the door stirred occasionally and slurred something unintelligible. He ignored the lizard and pushed the door open.

The tavern was small and cramped. Tables and chairs were stuffed in wherever they could fit and then some. Only demi-humans were seated inside the bar and a green lizard served drinks to a handful of patrons at the large counter against the back wall. A handful of lanterns lit the bar, though not very well. A handful of the demi-humans looked up, but they lost interest went back to their drinks and conversations.

Lendrz carefully scooted by the clustered maze of chairs and tables until he reached the counter. The lizard didn’t look up as he approached. The dirty mug that he was cleaning with a slightly less so rag held his attention.

“Nedd something to quench your throat?” the lizard asked.

“Maybe another time. You see, I’m new in town, and I need work. Is there any kind of mercenary guild here or something?” Lendrz asked, leaning on the counter.

“Tons, but your best bet is the Fang of Iron. They’re a demi-human mercenary band from Kararagi. They usually don’t operate here, but the owner has been wantin’ to open trade negotiates here. They’ve been hiring lots of local talent. I think I saw a bunch of ‘em at a restaurant or something not too far from here when I opened up. Once ya leave, take a right for two blocks and then left for one until you see a green building. You can’t miss it,” the lizard said, still not looking up from his cleaning.

Lendrz stared at the lizard, surprised at the sudden turn of fortune.

“What are you waiting around here for?”

“Er, nothing. I just didn’t think this would be that easy. The way things have been gong for me, I expected this to be much more difficult. Thanks for the information.”

Lendrz turned and left the cafe to follow the instructions he received.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The building was two stories tall and painted soft mint green and had a patio at the entrance. The windows on both floors let in plenty of natural light. The view of the top floor was blocked by the patio roof, but Lendrz could see a large seating area and a waiter behind a counter.

In most of the seats were hooded beast-kin dressed in loose white robes with yellow trim and two yellow around the large sleeves. The white and yellow mantle was separate from the robe. Every member of the group had an animalistic quality. There were a good number of mercenaries that were more animal than a person, but there were also some that looked almost human if it wasn’t for a tail poking out of a tale hole in their robes or the ears coverings on the hoods.

Amongst the uniformed figures, a couple stood out, sitting in the center of the room. One of them was a delicate-looking pastel purple-haired woman. Her hair reached to the small of her back and was well kept She was dressed in a long white fur dress with light purple at the bottom. The thick cuffs of her dress were adorned with a pair of pink ribbons. Another pair were set on the sides of her large white fur cossack. A pair of large white puffballs were connected to her hat with almost invisible strings. Wrapped around her neck was what looked like the hide of a giant hopbeast. It was fastened with a pink bow and puffballs dotted the collar just below a fur choker. Despite her delicate appearance, her intense blue-green eyes were intelligent and calculating.

The man had the same color hair as the girl, but much shorter, barely reaching his chin. Like the girl, he didn’t look very threatening, but Lendrz had a feeling he was more than he seemed. His eyes were dark amber and stern-looking. He wore a high collar black shirt and white pants. He also wore an elaborate white coat with red trimming. A white cape with a red underside was fastened under a white mantle with a similar trim. His clothing reminded him of Reinhard’s. Maybe he was a knight as well?

Both of them looked to be having a casual conversation with each other. Most of the mercenaries had nothing in front of them, but the pair had only two glasses of water in front of them.

Lendrz took a deep breath and stepped into the cafe. None of the mercenaries moved, but he made sure to not make any sudden movements just to be safe. None of the mercenaries moved, but he could feel every eye in the room. Once he was standing before the table with the knight and lady. Both of them stopped and looked up to Lendrz. The knight with cautious consideration and the lady with curiosity.

“Would either of you happen to be in charge of recruitment for the iron fang?” Lendrz asked, putting his best effort to sound professional.

“Yes, that would be me,” the girl said, bridging her fingers and leaving forward with a small smile. “I suppose you’re the one who wants to join.”

“Correct. You see, I just dropped into town, and I need work,” Lendrz answered.

“I see. Well, now would be a good time for an interview as any. Wouldn’t you agree?” Anastasia asked, gesturing to the knight. “Julius here is quite the experienced knight,” “Please, take a seat.”

On cue, one of the mercenaries quickly stood up and pushed an empty chair to the table. “Uh, thanks,” Lendrz said as he sat. He looked from purple head to purple head. Anastasia retained her curious look while Julius began eyeing Lendrz critically.

“First things first, what’s your name?” Anastasia asked.

“Easy, Lendrz Ridrez.”

“Do you have any experience fighting?”

“Er, no, not really, but I am much stronger than I look,” Lendrz answered uncertainly.

“What does the sign on your clothing mean?”

“This?” Lendrz asked, looking down at his shirt. “It’s just my sign.”

“Your sign?” Anastasia asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.

“Yes, my sign. As in, for me, specifically.”

Anastasia stared Lendrz straight in the eyes before finally speaking again. “I’m afraid the Iron Fang only accepts experience recruits,” she said, already turning back to Julius.

Lendrz pursed his lips, but he decided to press on. “Are you sure? Can’t you at least test me or something? I’m sure I can surprise you,” he said.

Anastasia cast him another glance. “Is that so? Would you be willing to do me a favor, Julius?” she asked.

The knight's eyes turned from Lendrz to Anastasia. “If it is your wish,” Julius answered.

“It is. I'll wait here. This shouldn’t take you very long.”

“Come along. I know just the place where we can have our test,” Julius said as he stood from his seat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julius had led Lendrz through a bit of a walk through a couple of districts. The next district was looked much more elegant than the last one. Where the last district was home to shops and stalls, the buildings here were luxurious homes. There weren’t many people walking the streets in the district. The few people that were walking about were dressed in extremely fine clothing. The next district was even finer. Instead of houses, multistory mansions took up huge amounts of space. Like the last district, there weren't many people about. Those that weren't nobility were knights dressed in white uniforms like Julius and Reinhard.

Soon, they reached a massive collision in a large well-manicured park. It was circular and built of white marble. There was a massive circular sunroof carved into the ceiling, letting in plenty of sunlight. The circular area was just dirt and high walls surrounded it, Bleachers looked over the wall in every direction.

Julius led Lendrz into the arena, a wooden sword in each hand from the armory. Lendrz had left his staff in the armory for the time being. He paused to hand a sword to the troll. Julius gestured for him to stay and he continued to the other end of the arena.

“This arena has seen a lot of use over the years,” Julius began with a serious tone. “It’s been used to settle disputes of honor and even duels to the death. Since this is only a test, we’ll be using wooden swords.”

Julius whipped around and raised his sword at Lendrz. “That being said, this test is to see if you are fit to serve my lady Anastasia, so I recommend you do your best to not disappoint.”

_I wonder if he practised that little move._

The knight stood ready with his sword raised. His right side was facing Lendrz and his left hand was tucked behind his back. His expression was bored and uninterested.

Lendrz couldn’t stop a scoff from escaping him. “Are you really going to try and beat me with one hand? Granted, you didn’t tie it behind his back, but still.”

“I’m judging your ability to fight, not your ability to talk. If you wish to join the Iron Fang, I suggest you try to impress,” Reinhard said without missing a beat.

Lendrz narrowed his eyes and carefully watched the knight for any sudden movements. Julius didn’t move a muscle. He was waiting for the troll to make the first move. Cautiously, Lendrz approached the knight with his sword raised.

Once Lendrz was a few feet away from Julius, he lunged forward, but he was still careful to not put too much power into his attack.

Before Lendrz’s sword even got close to Julius, he moved so fast he was almost a blur. Lendrz barely had time to react. He raised his sword to block, barely catching the swing in time.

For all of Julius’s speed, Lendrz had the advantage of strength. While Lendrz’s block was slow and clumsy, Julius’s quick slash still rebounded off of it easily. A look of surprise flashed across Julius’s face when his attack did nothing, but before Lendrz could capitalize on his surprise, the knight dashed away.

“Looks like you weren’t exaggerating when you said you were strong then you looked, but there that is no substitute for proper training and skill,” Julius said. He eyed Lendrz with renewed interest.

Lendrz frowned as he slowly circled the knight. Julius was right. No matter how strong he was, it wouldn’t matter if he couldn't land a hit on him. The knight was almost too fast for Lendrz to keep track of.

While Lendrz was thinking, Julius quickly dashed forward and swung his sword at his face. Lendrz tried raising his sword, but he was too slow this time. The flat of the wooden smacked him across the cheek with a tremendous amount of force.

Or, at least a tremendous amount of force to most people, but not so much for Lendrz. To the troll, it was little more than a minor nuisance. Lendrz flinched and stepped back while Julius dashed back to gouge his reaction.

Lendrz rubbed the cheek Julius struck with a frown. “Hm, that stung a little, I guess,” he said to himself. When he looked back up at the knight, Julius had lowered his sword.

“‘What’s wrong? Is that it?” Lednrz asked.

“I’ve seen all I need to see,” Julius answered.

“Well?”

“It obvious to me that despite your strength, you’re slow and inexperienced. Your reaction time is shoddy at best. If this wasn’t a mock battle, I would have just maimed you. You’ll need a lot of training before you can be made into a halfway decent warrior,” Julius explained.

“That doesn’t sound too good,” Lendrz said nervously, looking down and scratching the back of his head.

“It isn’t. All that being said, after enough time and training, I’m sure you’ll amount to something. Follow me. I’ll lead you back to Anastasia,” Julius said as he walked past Lendrz and to the exit.

Lendrz nodded and followed the knight back to the restaurant. Hopefully, before nightfall, he would have a plan for the future.

Before Lendrz left, he looked up to the sky. The golden light of the sun was beginning to fade to orange. Hopefully, Reinhard had taken care of the whole bowl hunter business. If he hadn’t, then, Satella and the others were doomed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“My, all that sounds very interesting,” Anastasia said. She looked to Lendrz with renewed interest. 

Lendrz and Julius had come back to the restaurant and were seated at the table again. Not much had changed since they left aside from some of the mercenaries had eaten, seeing as some of them had empty plates in front of them.

“Yes, it is,” Julius confirmed.

“What would you suggest, Julius, if you were me?” she asked her knight, but her eyes never left Lendrz. The woman’s eyes were making him feel uncomfortable like she was sizing him and trying to see how much he was worth.

“If I were in your position, I would seriously consider recruiting him into the Iron Fang. He isn't very much right now, aside from his strength, but he had great potential,” Julius said from his seat at the table. 

“Then it’s decided. Welcome to the Iron Fang, Lendrz,” Anastasia said, holding out a hand to Lendrz.

“Thank you,” Lendrz said graciously as he took her hand and shook.

“There’s an inn not very far from here where some of the Iron Fang members are staying,” Anastasia said. She reached into a large red clutch purse she had laid on the floor. She withdrew a pen and a small slip of paper. She quickly wrote something down and held it out to Lendrz. “Here, take this. Follow the directions and hand this to the owner. It bears my signature, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

Lendrz took the paper and examined it. Just as he expected, he couldn’t decipher a word. He coughed awkwardly. “Er, this is kind of embarrassing to say,” Lendrz said, looking away and scratching the back of his neck. “I don’t actually know how to read.”

“Just something else to add to your training,” Anastasia said. “Anway, like I said. The inn isn’t far. Just go right when you leave and keep going until you see the inn. It’s the wooden building with a big sign and now windows. We’ll have your contract finalized tomorrow.”

“That sounds great,” Lendrz as he stood up. “Thanks again for the chance.”

Lendrz turned and left the restaurant for the inn. He was glad to have a plan and a place for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lendrz stood in front of the building Anastasia had directed him to. It matched her description perfectly. A large, wide wood building with nod windows and a large sign. Despite that, Lendrz couldn’t bring himself to enter. He looked up at the sky. The gentle blue was replaced by a fading orange and darkness was being to settle over the capital.

It wouldn’t be long now before Elsa makes her move. Reinhard should have stopper her by now, right? He the legendary swordsman. That being said, Elsa would recognize Reinhard’s uniform a mile away in that slum. All she needed to do was keep out of sight until the time came and enter the loothouse. She’ll kill everyone there before they can leave. Satella will then find her way there and end up being killed by her.

“Fucking shit,’ Lendrz muttered to himself. “Whatever, I’ll just go over there and make sure everything worked out. Worst case scenario, I just waste a little time before settling in for the night.”

Lendrz sighed and began running to the slums.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Great. I’m lost again,” Lendrz said to himself. He had traveled to the slums from the inn just fine, but he got turned around once he made it. All the shoddy looking houses and rubble blended together. He had slowed to a walk as he looked from left to write for any familiar signs or landmarks.

Lenrdrz noticed something from the corner of his eye and paused for a better look. There was a rickety wooden shack built against the ruins of a building, not that much bigger than him. There was a ragged couch with an equally ragged blakey and pillow strewn about. A large sheet was placed on the slanted roof and was kept in place with a few rocks. A few other sheets were strung over a nearby clothesline.

“Nope, not getting any closer. I don’t recognize this at all,” Lendrz said softly to himself.

“Hey, you better not be getting ideas,” a familiar voice said from behind him. “Don’t you know it rude to go snooping around someone’s home. Anyway, you’re wasting your time. There’s nothing there for you to steal. Now, beat it.”

Lendrz turned around to see Felt pointing a large dagger at him from the sheath around her waist a few feet away from him. She glared at Lendrz, watching for any sudden movements.

“Great. Just the thief I wanted to see,” Lendrz said. “I’m here to make a deal with the insignia you have just stolen,” Lendrz said.

Felt didn’t lower her dagger, but her glare softened slightly.

“Is that so? You don’t expect me to just believe what you just said so easily. What are you planning to trade?”

“I have a rare metia. I doubt that you’ll find anything like it in the world,” Lendrz said, reaching into his pocket for his pockethusk.

Lendrz had already gone through this whole song and dance before. He pointed the camera at Felt and before she could protest snapped a picture. There was enough light to avoid using the flash, so he didn’t have to put up with her complaining about the light. Lendrz held out the screen to her.

“This is a metia that captures moments in time and records them,” Lendrz explained, trying to his best to explain it in a Felt could understand.

“Well, you don’t seem to be lying, but is that supposed to be me? Felt asked as she leaned forward and raised her hand to her chin in thought. “I look much better than that.”

“Whatever, you look fine,” Lendrz said as he placed it in his pocket. 

“It is unusual, I’ll give you that,” Felt said as she placed her hands on her hips. “But, I really doubt it’s worth what my client's offering. Listen, there’s a loothouse at the far edge of the slums I think the fair thing to do is have it appraised by the there, old man Rom.”

Lendrz frowned. It’s not like he expected anything different, but he was down a road he was all too familiar with. Once they reached the loothouse, they would wait a while before Elsa came and ruined everything. A phantom pain surged inside his gut from the memory. He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Fine. Just lead the way, already,” Lendrz said. He didn’t wait for an answer as he walked past Felt.

“Hey, wait up. I’m the one who’s supposed to be leading you,” Felt said as she jogged to catch up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lendrz walked quickly through the slums and Felt was forced to keep up. 

“What’s your problem? Slow down,” Felt said irritably. “Why are you in such a hurry?”

Lendrz ignored her questions. He was too busy scanning every corner and street to see if he could catch a glimpse of either Reinhard or Elsa, but neither of them could be found.

“You look kind of nervous… Oh well, anyway, Live strong,” Felt said.

The highblood sighed and slowed down a bit. 

_I suppose it doesn’t really matter if we arrive a little early. If Reinhard found Elsa and took her down, she won’t show up, and I can make the deal for the insignia without issue. If he hasn’t found her or couldn’t beat her, she shows up, and I’ll have to figure out something._

“Live strong? Is that supposed to be a motto or something around here?” Lendrz asked without slowing or turning to look at Felt.

“Look, don’t lump me in with all these other guys,” Felt answered, sounding insulted. Lendrz cast a look around the streets. A human and a couple of demihumans were sitting under a tarp, talking with a few bottles next to them. On the other side of the street, a couple of children peeked at them from a dingy home while an adult slept on the floor further inside.

“They’re all talk,” Felt continued. “They don’t live strong at all. They’re a bunch of stingy losers who got nothing going for them.”

Lendrz raised an eyebrow at Felt’s sudden change of demeanor. “Aren’t you one of said people? Last I checked, you lived in a little, and I hesitate to call it this, shack with nothing worth stealing,” he said.

Felt broke into a jog and went ahead of Lendrz. She turned and faced Lendrz with a stern look, forcing him to stop. “I’m not like the other people around here, okay? I have no intention of living out the rest of my life in these dirty, ding back alleys!” Felt said defiantly.

“And I suppose the money you make from this deal will be your ticket from these dirty, dingy back alleys,” Lendrz said, crossing his arms, but he looked at Felt with a new level of respect.

Felt closed her eyes and appeared to be deep in thought. “Not by itself, but it’ll be a huge leap towards my goal,” she said. She opened her eyes and looked to the side. “Even if I were alone, it’s not as if I couldn't get by without some effort.”

Lendrz thought back to the time he entered the loothouse before Elsa entered. Rom had said he had taken care of her, just like a lusus would. He saw first hand how Rom had died trying to save her and how Felt was fully prepared to die if it meant avenging the giant instead of running. She may be a thief, but she definitely isn’t a coward.

“Well, shouldn’t we hurry along then? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can move on with our lives,” Lendrz said as he continued on the path.

_And the sooner I have to find a way out of this without getting anyone killed._

“Hey! How many times do I have to tell you I’m supposed to be leading you!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, this is a metia?” the giant asked himself as he held the pockethusk in his hand. He turned it around to get a good look with surprising care. 

“Well, I heard of ‘em, but I never thought I’ve never seen one with my own eyes,” Rom continued.

Lendrz sat at the counter and Felt sat next to him. He patiently waited for the giant to finish his appraisal, not listening to what Rom said to himself.

“Just don’t break it,” Lendrz said, leaning on the counter and resting his head on his palms. “You break it, you buy it.”

“Yeah, I’m definitely impressed,” Rom continued, ignoring Lendrz’s warning. “If I were to sell this, I’d take no less than fifteen- no, twenty holy coins, ‘cause I’ll likely not come across one again. So, it’s worth at least that”

“Not a surprise here,” Lendrz said. Rom held out the pockethusk to Lendrz who took it and placed it back into his pocket. “Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that despite this being an amazing deal, you’re not going to accept because you want to see if you can jack up the price on the other competitor. Felt let it slip that there was someone else interested.”

Felt turned to Lendrz with a pout. “Hey, you don’t have to blunt about it,” she said crossly.

“Sorry if I’m coming across a bit impatient, but I’ve had a string of bad luck lately, and I’m really getting tired of it. I can’t wait for this night to be over, so I can forget it even happened,” Lendrz said crossly.

“Fess up, why exactly do you want the insignia so badly?” Felt said, taking the insignia from some hidden pocket and holding it up. It looked the same as before. To him, it looked little more than a neat looking, but ultimately unimpressive bauble.

Lendrz shrugged. “To me, that insignia isn’t worth much. I’m more concerned with the people involved. More specifically, the other buyer. Would you believe that the other buyer is a sadistic murderer with a penchant for cutting people open while they’re still alive,” Lendrz said casually.

Both Felt and Rom gawked at Lendrz before Felt retorted. “I say you're full of it. You’re just trying to scare me out of it. I mean, if I got two interested parties interested in this thing, it must be worth a lot more than it looks,” Felt said, taking a closer look at the insignia. “That’s why everyone’s gunning for it.”

Felt closed her fist around the insignia. “In other words, in an open bidding, this will sell way more than a metia.”

Lendrz only raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, you could try it, but do you think you can handle it. Twenty holy coins is already a lot of money as is. I imagine hiring a couple of mages or something to take the insignia from a girl and an old giant through force would be substantially cheaper. But don’t let me stop you. Go ahead and try your luck. And trust me, luck does not get you very far at all,” Lendrz said dismissively.

Felt hesitated and Lendrz pressed on. “How about this. You can just wait for my competition to see if they can up their deal. If you’re not satisfied, you can just get that giant over there to politely ask us to leave, and you can do what you wish with the insignia. I’m not looking for a fight tonight, but I can’t say the same for my competitor. How does that sound?”

Felt finally relented. “Fine, but if you try anything funny, you’ll regret it,” Felt snapped.

Before Lendrz could answer, a knock came from the door, and he froze. Lendrz couldn’t stop from pressing his hands to his gut. Memories of what happened last time flashed through his mind. One way or another, Reinhard had failed. So much for the legendary swordsman.

He could hear the voices of the other two, but he couldn’t bring himself out of his stupor to say anything. Felt walked to the door and began opening it. Lendrz tightened his grip on his staff. Elsa wouldn’t attack them outright. That gave him a little time to think of something to keep in innards where they’re supposed to be.

When Felt opened the door, instead of Elsa, Satella stepped inside. Lendrz’s eyes widened at the realization.

_What? Why is she here? The only thing I did differently with her this time around was not talk to her. Did I slow her down that much? I mean, the second time, I just talked to her for a second._

“I’m glad you’re here,” Satella said calmly. “You won’t get away this time.”

Felt looked just as surprised as Lendrz and stepped back from Satella. “What is wrong with you? Don’t you know when to quit? I’m telling you, let it go already!” Felt demanded as she backed even further away.

“I’m sorry, but this is something I simply cannot give up on,” Satella continued. “If you do as I say and cooperate, I won’t hurt you.”

Satella raised a hand and the air hummed around her. The air around her shimmered blue and large ice shards formed out of thin air with a light chime.

“Isn’t that a double negative? Asking someone to both do as you say and cooperate? Or a double positive?” Lendrz asked himself. He doubted Satella would go to any extremes for the insignia. He didn't even rise from his seat or turn to look at her.

Satella ignored Lendrz’s musing. She kept her eyes focused on Felt. “I have but one request to make of you,” she continued. “Return what is mine. My insignia is very important to me.

Surprisingly, it was Rom who answered. “Woah, if she was just another run of the mill magic user, I wouldn't back down, but this one’s trouble,” he said, sounding a little impressed.

Felt raised her fist at Rom “What’s your problem!? Admitting defeat before we even start fighting!” Felt shouted.

Rom ignored Felt’s outburst and watcher for any sudden outburst from Satella. “Young lady, so, uh, you’re an elf, right?” he asked nervously. Satella kept her expression stern. Felt gasped and froze.

Satella sighed and turned to Rom. “Not exactly,” she said. “Technically speaking, I’m only a half-elf.” She never lowered her hand while she explained.

Felt spoke out again once she collected herself. “Wait, seriously!?” she said, her voice growing more panicked by the second. “Her hair! It’s silver! Are you the-” Felt jumped back, fear now clear in her voice.

Before she could continue, Satella spoke out. “It’s an accidental resemblance, and, to be honest, it causes me a lot of trouble.

_Who does she look like? Whoever it is, she must have done something truly awful._

This time, Felt turned to Lendrz. “I should have known better. You set me up, didn’t you!?” she demanded, pointing an accusatory finger towards him.

Finally, Lendrz turned on his seat to face the others. “I can honestly say that I’ve never seen that girl in this life,” Lendrz said, gesturing to Satella.

_Not technically a lie._

“I can attest to that,” Satella said after a glance. “Wait, does that mean you two aren't working together.’

Before he turned away, Lendrz noticed a flower pinned upon her dress. He could stop a small chortle from escaping him.

_Just as expected, really. No matter how things change, some just don’t._

“Hey, you jerk! What’s so funny!” Felt shouted.

“Face it, kid” Lendrz began, “this is over. Rom hasn’t even lifted a finger before throwing in the towel. Without your muscle, your out of options. The best choice for you is to hand over the insignia and get out of here.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Lendrz noticed a shadow creeping around in the darkness heading straight to Satella. It was Elsa sneaking through the shadows. How long had she been here? He didn’t hear the door open.

Lendrz hopped off his stool and stretched, but his eyes never left Elsa as she crept closer and closer to the half-elf.

“Actually, you know what? Tonight’s been a long night. I’m ready to cut my losses and leave,” Lendrz said, discreetly grabbing onto his stool with one hand.

Satella turned to Lendrz and raised her hand to him. “No one’s going anywhere until my insignia is returned to me,” she declared.

“Well, here's my counter-argument Lendrz said. Before anyone could say anything, Lendrz hurled his seat at the shadow.

Of course, it wasn’t that easy. Elsa jumped out of harm's way, flipping through the air, and the stool smashed through the wall, shattering into wooden splinters.

Elsa stood in the center of the room, a dagger in each hand as she eyed Lendrz with amused curiosity. 

Satella turned to Elsa with a hand outstretched. Felt stepped a little closer to Rom, who reached under the counter for his club.

“Anybody ever tell you you have a great arm?” another voice said. Pack poked his head out of from Satella’s hair.

“Surprisingly not,” Lendrz said, his eyes never leaving the assassin.

“A spirit and a demihuman I’ve never seen before. I can’t wait to see how your insides look like~” Elsa cooed with a smile, pointing a dagger at Lendrz

“Wait, what are you talking about!?” Felt shouted, fear creeping into her voice again. “We had a deal!”

“We can’t enter negotiations with the owner standing right here, can we? So, there’s been a change of plans. I’m going to slaughter everyone here. You failed to do your job all the way through to the end. You certainly talk a good game, but, honestly, you do terrible work. I was hoping you were more than another slum dweller.,” Elsa said, not sounding to worked up about it all.

“That’s a load of shit, and you know it,” Lendrz said raising his staff with a scowl. “You were just going to kill everyone here weather the owner was here or not. Also, just because you’re a sadistic waste of life doesn’t mean you have to be such a bitch about it. Figured belittling children was beneath you.”

Elsa’s smile only grew bigger, but her eyes hardened and focused on him. “You know my work well. Have we met before?” she asked, ignoring his insults.

“Not in this life. But, with any luck, this will be the last time we ever meet,” Lendrz snapped back.

“Finally something we can agree on,” Elsa said.

Before Lendrz could retort, she flung one of her daggers at him. Lendrz raised his staff to protect his face and neck. Before the blade came close, a transparent blue snowflake wall appeared in thin air before him, blocking the blade.

“You probably shouldn’t antagonize her like that. Just let little ol’ me take care of this,” Pack said as he floated next to Satella. “Just try and stay out of danger.”

Pack floated high in the air, above Satella and spread his little arms wide. He began to glow with blue light and dozens of ice shards materialized around him.

“My name’s Pack! Now, do your best to remember that on your way to the grave!” the spirit announced as he waved his arms at Elsa. It might have looked cute under different circumstances.

The shards raced to Elsa. If she was concerned, she certainly didn't show it. Dozens of shards crashed where she was standing, throwing up dust, obscuring her and almost reached the others

“Did we get her or not!?” Rom yelled, not taking his eyes from the dust cloud.

“I very much doubt that,” Lendrz said, not lowering his staff for a moment. It wouldn’t be that easy.”

 

When the dust settled, it revealed a large ice crystal with Elsa’s form encased within. Before anyone could even say a word glowing cracks spread throughout the ice. The cracks spread until the entire crystal was glowing brightly.

“One should always be prepared,” Elsa’s voice came from the crystal.

Just as she finished her sentence, the ice shattered into a fine white powder and scattered through the air.

Elsa covered her entire body with her cloak. It glowed purple before disappearing completely, reviling her to be completely unharmed.

She smiled and charged at Satella with her dagger poised to rip her apart Satella calmly raised her arms in front of her and a barrier appeared, blocking Elsa’s slashes.

“Don’t underestimate a user of the spirit arts,” Satella said calmly. 

Ice shards rained down on Elsa from above from Pack. Elsa flipped away from Satella, shards stabbing into the ground where she stood moments ago. Pack didn’t let up with his attack, but Elsa kept dodging the shards.

“You’re well accustomed to battle, for a girl,” Pack said calmly as he fired shard after shard.

“A girl, huh? It’s been a while since I’ve been regarded in such simple terms,” Elsa nonchalantly. As she said this, she dodged the shards without breaking a sweat and destroyed the ones she couldn’t dodge she destroyed with her daggers. She even crawled along the walls like some kind of demonic spider to avoid some of Pack’s barrage.

“Well, from my perspective, all my opponents are little more than babies,” Pack shot back. “Still, your so strong, I almost pity you.”

“I’m deeply touched to be praised by a spirit.”

The other three watched the fight from the other side of the room. “So, who do you think going to win?” Lendrz asked nervously.

“Well, that depends on wither or not the spirit can beat her before he runs out of energy,” Rom explained without looking away.

_That’s right. Pack said that he worked from nine to five._

Lendrz looked at a window. He and the others had retreated to the sidelines and crouched down to make themselves a smaller target, but it didn’t make much of a difference in Rom’s case. He had recovered his club from behind the counter. The light was fading fast. “I don’t think Pack has much time left,” he said.

“And just when we were both having so much fun,” Elsa said as she dodged and blocked with ease.

“Just one of the drawbacks of the job,” Pack said, never stopping in his attack for even a second. “When you’re a ladies man, the girls won’t give the chance to sleep. But you know, staying up late is bad for your skin, so I”d say it’s about time we wrapped this up.”

Elsa was about to lunge forward, but something kept her anchored to the floor. She looked down to see a layer of ice rooting one of her feet to the floor. Lendrz shivered. This seemed very familiar to how she disposed of him.

“Didn’t think I was just throwing things around at random, did you?” Pack taunted as he dropped down onto Satella’s shoulder.

“Looks like I’ve been had,” Elsa said. She didn’t seem concerned at all.

“Say goodnight!” Felt called.

Satella and Pack raised their hands and light began gathering in front of them. It grew brighter and brighter until a massive wave of ice cascaded from them heading straight towards Elsa.

Right as it was about to slam into Elsa, she flipped out of harm’s way, ripping her foot from the ice and losing her heel in the process. Elsa stood a few feet away from the ice. Blood pooled at her feet from her injured foot.

“My, how lovely,” Elsa said breathlessly, a giddy smile spread across her face. “I thought I was going to die.”

“But you are a tricky girl, so I don’t find that kind of thing very impressive,” said Pack, disappointed that the fight wasn’t over.

“Pack, can you keep going?” Satella asked.

“Sorry,” Pack yawned and rubbed his eye. “But I’m getting sleepy. I think I underestimated her. My mana is gone, so I’m done.” He began to slowly fade away.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of things out here, so you can get some ready. Thank you for your help,” Satella said.

“Remember, if anything happens to you, I’ll act according to my contract,” Pack said as he grew fainter and fainter. “If it comes down to it, call me, even if you have to squeeze me out of my ode.” With that, he disappeared from this world in a flash.

“Aw, you're going away?” Elsa asked, sounding genuinely disappointed. She reached over to the ice crystal and tore off a chunk. She raised her bleeding foot and redd the ice to it. White mist hissed when ice met flesh. She placed her foot back on the ground and tapped it experimentally. It was about the same height as her heel.

Elsa turned back to Satella with a dagger raised and dashed forward with inhuman speed to attack. Satella pressed the palm of her hands together and a snowflake shield and a shard materialized around her. Elsa dashed around her, going in for a slash or a stab whenever there was an opening, but Satella was ready. Every time Elsa attacked, the shield or the shard would interrupt her with a metallic clang.

Lendrz growled and balled his hands into fists. He doubted Satella could hold out much longer, especially with Pack gone. 

“I know this is pretty interesting, Felt, but we can’t afford to sit around here watching anymore,” Rom said as he stood up, evidently sharing his sentiment.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know,” Felt said as she stood up as well. “If we’re going to make a run for it, we have to get moving right now.” She turned to Lendrz with a small smile. “Oh, and about before. I guess you did try to warn us before, even if we didn’t listen. Just a little bit.” She made a pinching gesture with her fingers.

Meanwhile, Elsa still hadn’t relented in her assault. After a series of slashes, she quickly twirled around the shield, lunging forward and kicking Satella straight in the ribs. Her shield and shard dissipated into thin air.

The kick sent her flying onto the counter, but she landed on her feet. Elsa pressed her advantage. She twirled almost blindingly fast towards Stalla and slashed, trying the cleave the half-elf down the middle.

Satella jumped back, narrowly avoiding the strike that cleaved the counter in two, but she slammed into the wall instead. Before she could react, everything on the shelves collapsed on top of her. She barely had enough time to utter a shout before she was buried in the rubble.

Rom charged with his club raised. “Here I come!”

Elsa smiled at the giant, unfazed by his charge. “Oh, how rude. Don’t cut in on someone else’s dance~”

She easily parried and danced around his assault. Lendrz frowned as he looked over the fight. He knew fro a fact that Rom would eventually be overcome. He didn’t even like his chances against her, even if he did beat her once.

“Hey, Felt,” Lendrz began, his eyes still glued to the fight, “do you think you can get past Elsa? Rom seems to be as good a distractions as any.”

Felt looked away from the fight to Lendrz. “What? Yeah, of course, I can, but there’s no way I’m leaving old man Rom.”

“I’m not just asking us to abandon us. There should be someone with red hair and a white coat around here somewhere. If he’s even as half as good as his title implies, we should have a fighting chance at least.”

“Here we go! Round and round!” Rom bellowed as he swung with all his might. Elsa jumped up and his club smashed the ice crystal to pieces. As the ice cascaded around them, Elsa elegantly dropped down and perched herself on top of his massive club.

“Huh? What in the world?” Rom asked himself, his eyes rising to meet Elsa’s.

“You're so strong I was able to stand on your club,” Elsa said cheerfully. “Now”

Elsa brought her dagger down with incredible speed to decapitate the giant.

“Not going to happen!” Felt shouted as she threw her dagger at Elsa’s dagger.

The dagger elegantly spun through the air and struck Elsa’s dagger. It struck with a loud chime, but it wasn’t enough. Elsa’s dagger was knocked off course, slicing deep into the back of his neck.

Rom froze with his club raised. He uttered a small groan before collapsing forward without making another sound.

Elsa hopped away from the giant as he collapsed and landed with her back to the pair. “You bad girl,” Elsa said as she turned to them, glaring at the blond girl. “You have neither the strength nor the resolve to fight. You would have been better off using your small stature to hide away in that corner.”

Lendrz pressed his hand on his gut as a familiar pain arched across his stomach. Even if it was a long shot, he had hoped that he could have gone through this without fighting at all, but there weren't any other options left. He began to stand, but he hesitated. Memories of what happened when she had incapacitated him flashed through his mind. She had made his death long and painful. Even if he did come back to life again, he didn’t want to die again. Lendrz growled. How pathetic he must have looked right now.

_Come one! Don’t just sit here, shivering like a coward. Move or die! It’s as simple as that._

Elsa stepped closer and closer, blood dripping from one of her daggers. She raised the bloodied one high in the air, ready to slash down at Felt.

Lendrz scowled and stepped forward with his staff at the ready. “Remember what I said, Felt. I’ll try to make a distraction,” he whispered.

“It looks like someone finally found some courage,” Elsa said, not pausing in her approach. Lendrz continued to step forward to meet her.

She swung downward, determined to end it in one attack. Lendrz raised his staff to block, but Elsa was too fast. Her attack turned into a feint as she twirled and kicked him straight in the gut.

Lendrz wasn’t even fazed by the attack. He quickly swung his staff at her head, but she jumped back, easily avoiding his counterattack.

Right as she landed, a volley of ice shards sped towards her. She flipped out the way and continued to dodge the others with no trouble at all.

Lendrz looked back at Felt. “I’m going to attack her with this,” he whispered as he picked up the club Rom dropped when he went down in his free hand. “Be ready to run when I do. Remember who I said to look for.”

Felt nodded, but she was still shaken up by what happened to Rom. Lendrz turned his attention back to the fight. Elsa had gone on the offensive and Satalla had returned to hiding behind her magic shield.

Lendrz charged forward with the club and his staff. Felt took this opportunity to make a run for the door.

Elsa watched Felt as she ran for the door. “Do you think I’ll really let her go,” she said as she twirled a dagger in her hand.

Right as she was about to throw the dagger, Lendrz lunged forward and swung the club down. Elsa dodged lept out of the way, the club smashing the floor where she stood just moments ago to splinters. As a result, her throw faltered and the knife sailed past Felt, harmlessly embedding itself into the doorframe. Felt successfully ran out the door and disappeared.

“Huh. Looks like you’re not very good at your job,” Lendrz said as he stepped back, the club poised to block any attacks. “You just let someone getaway.”

“For once, I’m feeling a tiny bit annoyed,” Elsa said. She smiled at Lendrz, but her eyes seemed colder than usual and her voice had a cold edge to it.

“Hey, don’t forget about me,” Satella said as she stepped closer, behind Elsa. Ice formed and launched at the assassin, but Elsa destroyed it with a casual dagger swipe without looking away from Lendrz.

“I hope you have some other attacks because I’m beginning to get bored,” Elsa said. She seemed unfazed by the fact that she was surrounded.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t have any surprises left, would you? Also, next time you try to land a sneak attack on someone, don’t announce it out loud,” Lendrz said.

“I do have one last trick, but using it will only leave me standing,” Satella answered.

“Let’s just put that one on the backburner for now,” Lendrz said.

_Satella’s slowing down. She only fired one shard instead of the barrages she was firring off earlier. I’ll have to do by best to make up for it._

Lendrz charged again and swung at her head with the club. Just like he expected, she dodged the attack easily. This time, Lendrz was ready. He sidestepped her kick and swung for her head with his staff, but it was a useless endeavor. Elsa was too fast for him, at no amount of strength would change that.

Elsa danced around Lendrz, slashing at him with incredible speed. Lendrz struggled to keep up, clumsily bringing up the club or staff to block a swipe at his face or dodge away from a stab. All the while Satella stood off to the side with her arms still raised, but they were moving so erratically she couldn’t get a clear shot.

Lendrz cursed as Elsa ducked under yet another club swing. He quickly swiped at her with his staff, but she weaved around his attack and dashed in close with her dagger poised for his neck. It was too late for him to block or move out of the way. His eyes widened as the daggered raced towards him.

Right as the dagger was about to pierce Lendrz’s flesh, the entire building rumbled. The roof collapsed behind them, showering the area in a thick cloud of dust. Elsa paused mid stab and looked closely into the dust. Lendrz took the opportunity to jump back. He looked into the dust cloud as well.

As the dust settled, a familiar redhead stepped out. “Looks like I cut it pretty close, but I’m glad I made it in time,” Reinhard said calmly.

“I know you,” Elsa said. Her voice was completely devoid of the sadistic glee she had just moments ago. Even her smile was gone.

A wind picked up around him, seemingly out of nowhere, clearing the area of dust and picking up his coat tail dramatically. “What do you say? Shall we put an end of this?” Reinhard asked.

“It’s about time, Reinhard. I had hoped you would have taken care of this by now,” Lendrz said. He resisted the urge to drop the club and rub his neck. Seeing the dagger practically fly towards his neck had brought up another bought of bad memories.

“Hello there, Lendrz,” Reinhard said, almost happily. “I’m afraid I’m a better swordsman than a tracker.” He turned his neck and flashed Lendrz a small smile. “You were right about her. You described her perfectly.”

The smile returned to Elsa’s faces and she licked her lips. “Reinhard, yes~ A true knight amongst knights, sworn to the master swordsman’s line. It’s quite remarkable that all my opponents are so interesting,” she said, the sadistic glee returning to her voice.

“There are many questions I’d like to ask you. I suggest you surrender.,” Reinhard said.

Elsa brought her arms up in a shrugging gesture. “Now, do you honestly expect a starving predator like myself to resist the temptation of such delectable prey?” she asked.

Reinhard seemed taken back by what she said, tsching and recoiling. He turned to Lendrz.

“Lendrz, move back a little bit. If you stand next to her, I’d appreciate it,” Reinhard said, pointing to Satella.

“You don’t need to tell me to sit this one out,” Lendrz said as he quickly made his way to Satella’s side. She had squatted beside the fallen giant.

Lendrz kneeled beside Satella and looked down as the dead old man. A large pool of blood had collected under him. The long wound was made with surgical precision. He was about to ask why she was beside him when he heard a shallow, whispy noise coming from Rom.

“He’s still alive? Is there anything you could do for him?” Lendrz asked.

“Yes, I can help him with my magic,” Satella said. 

She placed her hands over the long gash on the back of his neck. Blue light formed at the hands again, bathing the injured man’s wound with its glow. Slowly but steadily, the wound began to close. 

“He worked with Felt to steal your insignia, just so you know,” Lendrz noted. 

“That’s exactly why I’m doing this. If he recovers, he can repay the favor by giving me information,” Satella explained without looking up from her work. “He wouldn’t lie to me then, not after I saved his life.”

Lendrz raised an eyebrow. She knew just about everything she needed to know at this point. Felt stole her insignia and brought it here to sell it. She might want to know some more details about the deals, but the insignia was as good as her- if they could manage to survive the night.

_Maybe she’s just trying to rationalize her kindness. Like the way she ‘saved’ from those thugs._

Lendrz turned to back to the knight and assassin. Elsa charged forward as blinding speed, her daggers poised to tear Reinhard apart.

“I would rather not resort to using violence on a woman,” Reinhard said calmly. He took a single step forward.

The floor splintered where he placed his foot. A translucent wave of blue energy erupted in front of him. The wave slammed into Elsa, stopping her in her tracks. Reinhard quickly twisted around and kicked Elsa’s side. 

Elsa tumbled across the room in a tangle of limbs like a rag doll. She quickly regained control, digging her fingers and feet to slow to a halt.

“Look at you, my~” Elsa said, sounding pleased. “You’re just as good as the rumors say. Maybe better.”

“I hope I meet your expectation,” Reinhard answered. His hands were still at his side like he just hadn't kicked the assassin back like she was nothing.

“Aren't you going to use that sword at your hip?” Elsa asked.

_This lady is insane. She wants Reinhard to go all out after what he just did._

“I’d love the chance to experience it’s legendary sharpness first hand,” she continued.

Reinhard rested a hand on the sword’s pommel. “This sword can only be drawn when it’s truly needed,” he explained. “The fact that it hasn’t left its sheath as of yet means it’s not one of those times.”

Elsa stood straight. “I believe you underestimate me.

“Truthfully, it’s an upsetting judgment from me as well. Therefore, I shall take you on with this,” Reinhard said as he walked over to a discarded sword. It must have been thrown around from Rom’s collection at some point during the struggle. It was plain but serviceable. He kicked it up and caught it.

“Of course not. It wonderful~ Please entertain me more~” Elsa sang, her voice reaching a new level of fervor

Elsa charged again. Reinhard readied himself and the blade he held gently glowed blue. Elsa lunged, but Reinhard easily parried the strike, knocking the dagger straight in the air. The assassin jumped back and Reinhard caught the daggered with his free hand using only two fingers without looking up.

“If you lost your weapon, I suggest you surrender,” Reinhard said as he lazily tossed the dagger at Elsa, missing her head by only a few inches.

For the first time since the fight began, Elsa frowned. She retrieved another dagger from wherever she hid them in what little clothing she had.

“If I deprive you of all your weapons, will you be satisfied?” Reinhard asked.

Elsa’s smile returned in full force. “If I lose my fangs, I’ll use my claws,” she began as she jumped onto the building’s walls. She dashed across the room at speeds that put her earlier moves to shame. “If I lose my claws, I’ll use my bones. And if I lose my bones, I’ll use my life. That’s how a bowl hunter fights”

Just as she finished her sentence, she went in for an attack. Again, Reinhard blocked the attack easily, but she bounced away from him. She moved all over the room so fast she was a blur of darkness, but every attack failed to get past his defense.

“Damn. She was just playing with us earlier, wasn’t she?” Lendrz growled. “Why isn’t he attacking? All he’s doing is blocking.”

“Unfortunately, he can’t fight with his full strength because I’m using my spirit arts,” Satella answered.

“Why is that?”

“If Reinhard was truly intent on fighting, all the mana in the area would turn away from me. I’ve almost finished healing him now, so be sure he knows when I give you the signal.”

Lendrz looked down at Rom. The wound was now little more than a scratch, and even that disappeared. Satella sighed in relief as she placed her hands on her lap.

“He should be all right now. Go ahead,” Satella said.

Lendrz looked up to the knight and shouted, “Hey, Reinhard. You can go all out now!”

Reinhard nodded and the air around him began to shit. It glowed blue, waving upwards with the knight as the source, almost like an aurora. The bade glowed brighter than before as he raised it.

Elsa paused her assault and stood before Reinard. “What are you going to show me?” she asked, excitement still thick in her voice.

“Swordplay of the Astrea family,” he confidently answered. He pointed his sword at the assassin.

“You’re facing the bowl hunter, Elsa Granhiert,” she shot back unperturbed as she readied her blades.

“Master swordsman’s line Reinhard Van Astera.”

Reinhard raised his sword even higher and it glowed even bright. Blue motes of light appeared all around and gathered at his sword. Waves of blue light pulsed from his sword before his sword flashed. The entire room was bathed in blue and white light accompanied by a ghostly wale. Lendrz could barely make out the two in the light.

The knight swung his sword down. The light focused into a wave of energy in front of Reinhard. The light grew and grew, developing even Reinhard. Just as Lendrz thought things were about to calm down, the light exploded. Stone and wood shattered like glass. The shockwave buffeted Lendrz and Satella, nearly sending them to the floor. Lendrz held on to the others as ruble rained all around them.

Finally, the explosion settled and Lendrz looked up Reinhard stood alone, Elsa seemingly having been disintegrated completely- along with half of the loothouse. The half of the loothouse that still existed was wrecked beyond recognition.

“Wow… just wow,” was all Lendrz could muster.

Reinhard raised his damaged sword to examine it closely. With the span of a few seconds, the entire sword crumbled to dust, including the hilt, and scattered in the wind.

“I’m sorry. I asked too much of you. Rest well now,” Reinhard said, almost sadly.

Lendrz stood up, legs still quivering. “All that with a single swing of a sword…? What can he pull off with his actual sword?”

“Is it all over now?” asked Satella as she stood up as well.

“I believe so,” Lendrz answered.

Satella fumbled, almost collapsing, but Lendrz held her up.

“Take it easy,” Lendrz cautioned. “You’ve done a lot.” He turned to Reinhard. “And thanks, Reinhard. If it wasn’t for you, none of us would have made- even if I would have preferred if you had taken care of her before all this.”

“You can thank this friend of yours. I never would have found this place if it wasn’t for her,” Reinhard said, looking over past some rubble. Lendrz looked over to where he looked to see Felt peaking in.

“It's her,” Satella said.

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen enough action for now. We can figure something out a bit later,” Lendrz said quickly.

“I think we-”

Some ruble shifted from behind Lendrz.

“Lendrz!” Reinhard shouted.

Time seemed to slow as the troll turned to see Elsa burst out from beneath a pile of rubble. All joy was gone from her as she dashed towards Satella with her dagger raised. Reinhard began to move, but he was too far. Lendrz moved to intercept with his staff raised. Elsa went for Satella’s gut, but Lendrz pushed her out the way with the staff held before him. Elsa slashed, but her attack bounced off of Lendrz’s staff.

The force of the blow sent Lendrz sliding across the floor, but the left him unharmed and standing. “

That boy got in my way again,” Elsa hissed.

“That’s enough Elsa!” Reinhard shouted as he stepped between Elsa and the others.

Instead on answered, Elsa flung her dagger at the knight’s head. Reinhard didn’t even bother moving or even reacting as the dagger spun towards him. The dagger made a sharp turn before it got even close, spinning harmlessly into the night beyond.

“Before long, I will disembowel everybody in this room,” Elsa said, unsurprised by her throw failing. She flipped backward, landing on a tall pile of rubble. “Until then, take care of yourselves.” She then flipped over the wall, jumped through the collapsed roof, and jumping off, disappearing into the night.

“She really needs to learn to let it go,” Lendrz grumbled under his breath as he brushed himself off. “Now I hope it’s over.”

“Are you alright?” Reinhard asked as he jogged up to her.

“It’s not me you should be worried about!? Satella scolded. She pushed past the knight and hurried over to Lendrz. “Are you alright? That was far too reckless!” she asked worriedly.

“Yeah, I think I am,” Lendrz said as he looked himself over. Unlike last time, he managed to avoid a prolonged fight with Elsa. His clothes were in decent condition all things considered and he hadn’t spilled a drop of blood. “I still have all my limbs and my intestines are still where they’re meant to be.”

“That’s a relief to hear,” Satella said, visibly relaxing.

Without any further interruptions, Felt gingerly approached Rom and knelt beside him and didn’t say a word.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, Lendrz, but why did you take this into your own hands?” Reinhard asked.

Lendrz paused for a second and pressed his hand against his gut. “Let’s just say I know her work first hand, and let’s leave it at that. I wouldn’t wish her upon anybody, not even a pair of thieves,” he said.

“I will ask no more,” Reinhard replied.

“What will become of the old man and the girl?” Satella asked the knight.

“In an official capacity, I can not overlook what they’ve done here,” Reinhard said sternly. “However, as luck would have it, I happen to be off duty today,” The knight finished with a shrug.

Satella stifled a small giggle. “Well aren't you a bad knight.”

While the two were talking, Lendrz walked to the giant and the girl. He knelt beside Felt. “You don’t need to worry about Rom. He’s been healed with magic. I would still give him some time, though. He’s been through a lot,” Lendrz said, trying to sound soothing.

“Thanks,” Felt said. “Who knows what would have happened if you and the elf hadn’t been here.”

_Actually, I know exactly what would have happened if we hadn’t been here._

“Speaking of the elf, don’t you think it’s about time you return something that doesn’t belong to you.”

“I suppose I just can’t leave a debt unpaid.”

She took the insignia from the burlap sack. She stared at small bauble ruefully before handing to Lendrz. He took the gem. As soon as the insignia left Felt’s hand, the gentle glow from the gem faded entirely.

“You know, if you ever need any help, you can always try to find me. I work for the Iron Fang. Do you know how to find them?”

“Yeah. Their white coats have been everywhere lately,” Felt answered.

Lendrz nodded and returned to the others. He held out the insignia to Satella.

“A lot of trouble for something so small, huh? Must be important. Anyway, I think the magic that made the gem glow must have just faded. The glow disappeared the second Felt handed it to me,” Lendrz explained, hoping it wouldn’t be disastrous.

Before Satella could reach for the insignia or even say a word, Reinhard snatched it from Lendrz’s hand and examined it closely.

“Hey! What’s th-”

Reinhard’s snapped up to Lendrz and stepped closer to him, making the troll take a step back.

“Did you say the gem was glowing when Felt was holding it?” Reinhard demanded. All trace of his usual relaxed demure gone. “It’s of the utmost importance that you’re making no mistake.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Lendrz hastily answered. “The gem glowed when she held it. It stopped when I held it. I thought it was some kind of magic spell or something.”

Reinhard walked past Lendrz, straight to Felt with the insignia. The thief was still kneeling beside the giant. Without warning, Reinhard roughly grabbed Felt’s wrist and pulled her up.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?” Felt demanded, trying to pull away in vain.

Reinhard ignored Felt and pressed the insignia to her hand. The second it touched her hand, the gem began to softly glow again.

“What’s your name?” Reinhard question.

“It’s Felt! Why-”

“Your family name. And just how old are you?”

“I don’t have anything fancy like a family name, and I’m about fifteen if I had to guess. I don’t know my birthday. Now let me go!” Felt continued to struggle but to no avail.

“What’s going on, Reinhard?” Lendrz asked, surprised at the sudden change in the knight. He stepped forward along with Satella.

“I’m taking this girl for further questioning,” he answered. He turned back to Felt. “I’ll need you to come along with me. I’m sorry, but I can’t allow you to refuse.”

“Get over yourself. Just because you saved me doesn’t mea-”

Before Felt could get another word out, Reinhard raised his palm in front of her face. A small burst of wind hit Felt in the face. Her eyes drooped and she collapsed immediately into a deep sleep.

“That move didn’t seem very knightly either,” Satella said.

“I was careful to not use too much,” Reinhard answered as he maneuvered Felt into a bridal carry. “I will likely call upon you once again, miss…”

“Emelia.”

Lendrz stifled a surprised response.

_Emelia’s her name? That means she lied to me the first time._

“I hope you understand,” Reinhard said as he handed the insignia back to her.

“I sure don’t,” Lendrz said, crossing his arms.

“You will soon enough,” Reinhard replied as he looked up to the full moon. “Until then, take care of yourselves. This might be our last chance to look peacefully upon the moon.”

Reinhard tuned and left with Felt. Lendrz watched the walk-off to the upper districts. “So. we’re just going to let him basically kidnap Felt.”

“That is unusual, but trust me, he knows what he’s doing,” Emelia assured.

“Alright, I guess. It’s not like either of us could stop him,” Lendrz said.

Lendrz turned to Emelia. “Normally, I’d offer to escort you out of here, but you seem very capable of protecting yourself. By the way, I don’t think I’ve formally introduced myself yet. The name’s Lendrz Ridrez.”

Emelia gave Lendrz a small bow. “Thank you for your help, Lendrz. If you weren't here, things could have been so much worse.”

“This was more of a personal vendetta for me, but thanks anyway. It’s been a long night for both of us. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking to turn in already. If you ever need to find me, I work for the Iron Fang.”

“I’ll remember that. Hopefully, we’ll meet again soon,” she said with a smile.

“Yeah, just try not to get mixed up with assassins again in the future,” Lendrz answered with his own smile.

_And, hopefully, I can manage the same._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I really lost control of this chapter. My usual chapters are about five thousand words, but this was almost three times that. The way I decided to end my chapters is usually just when I find a good spot. I figured a good spot to end it would be the end of this ark, but my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Anyway, next on the docket is finishing up the ancestor story arc because I need that done for the next ark. I might knock out a chapter of To Begin From Magic if I need a break.

**Author's Note:**

> Will, this is random, isn't it? This was just a little crossover with Re Zero because it's one of my favorite animes. The basic premise is that a regular guy gets teleported into another world and comes back to life every time he dies. I really like the concept, so I decided to write this little spin-off. This chapter follows the first episode pretty closely. I'm not sure how often I'm going to update this, because the main story is my focus. This chapter also tops one of my earlier chapters as the longest. It's so long because I wanted to have the first death scene in the first chapter. Under regular circumstances, this would have been two chapters.
> 
> Disclaimer: Re Zero belongs to Tappei Nagatsuki
> 
> Criticism is welcome.


End file.
